Hidden Hurts and Shadowed Hearts
by CuteCat213
Summary: Shiro's first day in Karakura starts out questionably when he runs someone over in the hall and gets into a loud arguement in his first class. But there's far more under the surface of the peaceful town than he could have imagined, and the shadows hiding in the hearts of new classmate Ichigo and his friends are just the beginning. Shiro/Ichi, quick burning.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first multi-chapter fanfic, that's been sitting on my computer for almost two years. Incomplete, I wrote the entirety of what I have in two sittings over a weekend, the total adding up to some sixty-plus pages.

This is the most linear thing I've ever written, and I'm surprised I could do it, usually my mind jumps from one scene and time to another.

A romance, family, hurt/comfort story. Shiro (Dark Ichigo)/Ichi, AU with no powers. Certain (most) character's bios and/or affiliations have been changed.

_Italics_ are thoughts when in the middle of regular text and usually stated within a sentence or two and only when in full sentences.

When in the middle of a regular text sentence, _Italics_ are for _emphasis_!

_Italics_ moved to a next line and followed by a "-" and name or letters are actual texts. Another note, the name/initials after the "-" are to indicate both who sent the text and who received it: the name/initials are the exact way they would appear on the recipient's phone, hinting at who is receiving the text if it isn't said outright.

Also, finally, there are pairings in this story that some might not approve of. That's just too bad for them. I don't tolerate bigots in any way shape or form. If you can't handle it, don't frickin' read it! But don't read it when you don't want to just to give yourself ammunition to flame me, it's a major waste of both of our times.

Thank you, and please enjoy!

* * *

Part one: Prologue

* * *

"Damn! I'm late!" An orange-haired teen cried out in dismay as he pushed through the doors to the high-school.

"Ichigo!" A petite raven-haired girl with enormous violet eyes called out.

He slowed to a walk next to her to catch his breath, "Morning, Rukia."

"Where are the others?"

"Stomach flu."

She winced, "Yech. Poor things."

"Tell me about it."

"But you ate the same things they did, why aren't you sick?"

He snorted, "Years of taste-testing Orihime's home-cooking has given me an iron stomach."

Rukia snickered lightly, "Oh! We're getting a new student some time this week."

Ichigo's already less-than-stellar mood took an abrupt dive, "Oh, yay." he said with as much sarcasm as he could. No one could blame him for his reaction, the entire school, sans his group of friends, hated him. This new student would likely be absorbed into the hate club within the day he arrived. He didn't used to be this sullen, but there was an incident with the last transfer student they'd had that Ichigo never got over. The bastard had actually been a damn sleeper agent; befriending them for two months before finding the opportunity to pull Ichigo into a supply closet alone.

Rukia sighed, "Not everyone is like him. You can't let one person destroy your trust for the entire populace, Ichigo. Not everyone's like him."

Ichigo snorted, "Rukia, this school has a thousand and three-hundred students, and our group numbers a full dozen without me included."

"That's not counting those that don't go to this school. And you're forgetting your other friends."

"I'm only counting the ones that eat up on the roof, not the whole gang, and I've been doing my best to keep Keigo, Mizuiro, and Tatsuki out of it from the beginning. And now our numbers are down by half for the day."

"You did warn them all about eating Orihime's cooking, even if it was to be polite."

He huffed and shook his head, smirk present on his face, "Not that they ever listen."

"Maybe this will teach them."

"One can only hope." he muttered.

"So, why were you running like the hounds of hell were on your heels?"

Ichigo's face morphed into it's usual scowl, "Why else? One of the assholes cornered me outside. I asked if he was really willing to piss me off this early in the morning without back-up and he eventually backed off. I just know I'm going to regret that later on, though. Once he decides that I've dealt too large an insult to his pride to suffer, he'll round up the others and look for somewhere to jump me."

She glanced up at him, "It's kind of scary how well you can predict what they'll do."

"I've had plenty of experience."

Their conversation was cut off as they entered their class and took their seats. Ichigo volunteered to take the homework to the others that were out sick at the end of class. Ochi-sensei was ecstatic that she hadn't had to forcefully assign anyone to the task.

His phone buzzed in his pocket as he was walking out of class and he pulled it out.

_Im boooored~ -GJK._

He snorted and quickly replied.

_Yes, I imagine that having your head in a bucket for hours on end isn't the most exciting thing in the world. Never fear, I've got homework for you, so you needn't be bored for too long~. -IK._

Ichigo put his phone back in his pocket and ignored it with a feral smile when it buzzed again. He had always written his texts out in full, steadfastly ignoring those that made fun of him for it.

As predicted, shortly before lunch he was pulled into an empty classroom and jumped by a group of twelve students. Were it not for his father's training, he would have gotten his ass handed to him. As it was, he got out with a plethora of bruises and scrapes, but he gave as good as he got.

He was limping heavily by the time he made it to the fenced in roof. Rukia was the first to spot him, "Ichigo!"

The others turned to see him hobble over and flop down at the base of the tree that was on the far side of his circle of friends. He leaned back with a sigh, "Damn, that one hurt."

Tatsuki, who completely refused to be excluded from their group, even for her own good, stood up, "Let me get the medical kit." the spike-haired raven suggested and quickly made her way up the tree. The roof was their official meeting place, and if any of them had been cornered earlier during the day- not an infrequent occurrence that had resulted in a permanent medical kit being stashed in the tree, and several other spots- they could get fixed without dealing with the nurse.

She dropped out of the branches and tossed the box at him. Everyone gasped when he rolled up his pants leg to reveal that his right knee was the size of a softball and a very interesting shade of purple. He cracked a chemical icepack and threw it on his knee before tending to the rest of his injuries, which were mild in comparison.

Renji leaned in close, "Wow, you sure that's not more than bruised? It looks like hell."

"Heh, feels like it, too. But, no, it's just badly bruised and possibly sprained. You don't live with your father being a doctor for sixteen years without getting high first-aid drilled into your head."

The fiery red-head snorted, "Sometimes literally, knowing your dad."

Ichigo smirked, "True."

Szayel pushed his rectangle white rimmed glasses further up his nose, "It amazes me how you manage to maintain a three-point-eight grade-point-average with all the drama at your house."

"I'll have you know that fun is conducive to fast learning."

"Ah, yes, how silly of me." he muttered sarcastically.

The only ones of their group present were Chad, Uryu, Orihime, Szayel, Rukia, Renji, and Ichigo himself, and Tatsuki. Which reminded him, "Orihime."

"Yes?"

"As valuable a friend as I find you, we really can't afford to have our numbers decimated like this again. As much you like your own brand of cooking, you need to understand that it doesn't rest well with others."

Her face flushed a brilliant scarlet, "Oh! I didn't mean to! I guess maybe I should stop sharing so much, huh? You shouldn't feel obligated to taste it if it makes you sick! Please, don't worry about hurting my feelings. I bounce back quick, I promise!"

Renji let out a sigh, "Well that's a relief."

Everyone nodded their agreement. They all got up at the warning bell and Szayel nodded towards Ichigo, "Say hi to your sisters for me and tell your brothers that I wish them well."

"No problem." he replied, knowing that it was unlikely he'd get to see Szayel before he went home seeing as they shared none of the same afternoon classes.

Noting the much easier range of movement in his knee, Ichigo headed off towards his final classes of the day. Surprisingly, the rest of the day went by very smoothly with no commotion. He sighed in relief when he stepped out of the doors to the school. He hefted his backpack higher on his shoulder and headed for home.

As soon as he stepped foot inside the door, a blur came flying toward him and he sidestepped, causing his father to go flying right out the front door. With a sadistic sort of glee that didn't show on his face, he kicked the door closed and locked it. A feminine laugh caught his attention before a second blur attacked him, this one green. Once again dodging out of the way, he turned to the girl, "Hi, Nel. What are you doing here?"

A deep baritone came from behind him, "I told you I was bored."

Ichigo glanced over his shoulder and stared into a pair of deeper-than-blue blue eyes. Nel answered him, "I came over to keep Grimmy company."

The orangette saw the tic pulsing at Grimmjow's temple at the nickname, "She actually ambushed me and let herself in. It was a sneak attack."

Ichigo snorted, "Whatever. I have your homework here. And I distributed the others to the rest of the group. Nel, since you're here, you can take Nnoi's and Tesla's home with you."

" 'Kay!"

At that moment, Yuzu's head peeked out of the kitchen, "Is that you, Ichi-nii? Welcome home!"

"Thanks, Yuzu." she nodded and ducked back in to continue cooking.

Ichigo looked back at Nel, "So, are you sticking around for dinner?"

"No, I just came to bug Grimmy until you came home. I should get going."

"If you're fine, why weren't you in school today?"

"Verde was sick and my mother asked me to come over to watch her. With Tesla already out of commission and being taken care of by Nnoi, I figured there was really no reason to go."

"And is she better now?"

"Yeah, you know my little sister, she bounces right back."

"Yeah, the little snot machine's a resilient one."

Nel grimaced as she put her shoes on, "Can't really disagree there. Oh! Give me Kitty Kat's homework as well, I can stop by and drop it off on my way home."

"That's helpful, thank you."

"It's not like it's out of my way." Ichigo rifled through his bag for the assignments and handed them over as Nel opened the door, causing Isshin to fall flat on his face from leaning on it. She completely ignored his father as she stepped over his prone form and waved, "Good bye!"

Ichigo turned around and saw Grimmjow collapse on the sofa, "Finally! Peace and quiet!"

He snorted and sat down in the armchair, throwing the teal-haired teen's work at him, "Here, that's yours."

"Oh boy, an early christmas gift for me." he said sarcastically.

"If you think that's a gift, wait 'till you hear this: we're getting a new student sometime this week."

Grimmjow sneered, "Oh joy, it's been quite awhile since I last had an excuse to beat the hell out of someone."

"Ha! I can fix that one for you, too!" he said and pulled up his pants leg.

Grimmjow's face became serious, "Names?"

Ichigo waved him off, "Forget it, I already dealt with them." he stood up and stretched, enjoying the satisfying crack his spine made, "I'm going to go change."

By the time he came back down, Ulquiorra was out from whatever hole he'd hid himself in from Nel. He was laying on the couch with his feet on Grimmjow's lap. He sat up when Ichigo entered the room and laid back down when the orange-haired teen had situated himself on the sofa with them, Ulquiorra's head on his lap. It wasn't an unusual position to find the trio in.

Ichigo ran his hand through the younger male's ink black locks, "So, how did you two fare, stuck here all day with just goat-face?"

Grimmjow scoffed, "Let's just say it's a good thing there weren't any sharp objects within arm's reach."

A simultaneous "Here, here." was heard from both other occupants of the couch, both having had moments like the one described.

Ichigo watched the closed eyes of the one whose head was in his lap as his fingers trailed through the silky hair, "Tired?"

A single nod was his answer. Karin's head poked out from the dining room, "Guys, dinner!"

* * *

Chapter one.

* * *

Shiro was anxious as he walked through the doors to the school. He was looking around and ran right into someone. A loud "Oof!" sounded at his feet and he looked down to see the girl he'd practically run over.

He held out his hand, "Sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going."

The girl rubbed her head and took his hand, "No, it's okay. I've had worse. My name's Rukia, what's yours?"

Shiro stood there in awe for several moments, unable to speak. This tiny girl treated him like he was no different than anyone else she'd ever met, quite a feat considering just how different he was from everyone else. Finally finding his tongue, he answered her, "Hichigo Ogichi Shirosaki, but I prefer that people just call me Shiro."

"Nice to meet you, Shiro. I take it that you're the new student?"

"That would be me."

"Well if you'd like, feel free to come up to the roof for lunch and you can meet my friends."

"Uh, sure."

"Okay, then, I have to go or I'll be late for class."

"Me, too. Could you tell me where Math is before you go?"

She looked shocked as she gathered her fallen books, "That's my first class as well. I'll show you the way."

* * *

POV switch

* * *

It wasn't unusual for Ichigo to find Grimmjow waiting for him at the school entrance. To say the larger teen was impatient would be a massive understatement, and he'd rather stand still than keep his pace back to a walk. It often took Ichigo and Ulquiorra fifteen to twenty minutes to catch up with the older male because they chose to walk. The enormous grin that threatened to split his face, however, was a different story.

They stood before him and stared up at him with calculating looks on their faces, "Okay, what's with the face?" Ichigo finally asked.

"What face?" he asked innocently. Ichigo only stared at him until the silence grew to be too much for the older teen, "I had a run-in this morning." he stated.

Ichigo raised a brow, "What sort of run-in?"

Grimmjow interlaced his fingers behind his head and looked entirely too pleased with himself, "Antenor's face had a run-in with my fist."

Ichigo looked up at him incredulously, "How the hell did you figure out he was one of the ones that got me yesterday?"

"It was rather hard to miss the mark you left on him, Ichi."

"What mark?"

Grimmjow snorted and grabbed Ichigo's hand, he tapped the tribal mask ring on his finger, "This mark. Emblazoned in glorious purple on his left cheek."

Ichigo's face turned red and he looked down, "Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

Ichigo wrenched his hand away, "Well, uh, thanks, I guess."

The teal-haired teen waved it off, "No problem, Otouto."

Ichigo swiveled around to make sure no one was in hearing distance, "Whatever." he started pushing Grimmjow along from behind, "Come on, Grimm, you're going to make us late. Hey, Ulqui, you coming?"

Knowing that Ichigo wouldn't have started so familiarly if there was a chance of being heard by those that would tease them, Ulquiorra nodded, "Coming, Aniki."

They made it to math with only seconds to spare and the teacher shot them a dark look as they took their seats. Grimmjow and Ulquiorra sat in the middle of the last row, Ichigo was in the last seat on the right in the second to last row. Rukia was three seats to the left in the row ahead of him. He had to say that his morning had started off signifigantly better than the previous one.

Rukia got his attention and pointed to the front before he looked out the window, knowing it would be nearly impossible once he zoned out. She pointed to the front and the door, making motions from her eyes towards the entrance. He nodded, showing that he'd pay attention. His eyes widened as the teacher anounced that there was a new student and he looked back at Rukia, who smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. He watched as the new student came in.

He was rather surprised at what he saw. The teen was an albino; pure white skin and hair, but that was nothing compared to his eyes, gold irises surounded by black sclera. He was more surprised when the new student introduced himself, "My name is Hichigo Shirosaki, but I prefer to be called Shiro; and yes, if it wasn't glaringly obvious, I'm albino." Yes, he definitely had an blue tongue.

Rukia caught his eye again and gave him puppy-dog eyes with her fingers interlaced, begging him. He held his hand up flat and wavered it back and forth, showing her that it was a possibility. She gave a little happy dance in her seat and he rolled his eyes, turning his head towards the window.

"Okay, Shirosaki-kun, pick any seat that's free and get ready." Ochi-sensei said after the introduction.

There was the sound of movement and chatter before everything suddenly went quiet, "May I sit here?"

Ichigo looked over at the voice that came from next to him. He had to say that he liked the unique watery sound of the new kid's voice, it had a layered, ghostly quality to it. He shrugged and Shiro sat at the desk next to his.

The albino nodded at him, "I'm Shiro."

"Ichigo Kurosaki." he replied.

He saw the snicker and felt his mood plummet, "Like a strawberry?"

Ichigo felt a scowl twist his face as he snarled, "No, you demented fucking snowflake, not like a goddamned strawberry." he growled and turned away from the albino to look out the window, trying to suppress his anger. Just like everyone else, this new kid was no different. He steadfastly ignored everything as the hour passed, even the buzzing in his pocket, undoubtedly Grimmjow and Ulquiorra texting to ask if he was okay. He was most definitely not okay, but they'd know soon enough.

He was thrilled when the bell rang and gathered his books and was out the door faster than anyone else. As soon as Grimmjow, Ulquiorra and Rukia came out he started stalking off, "I vote 'no'."

Rukia looked both crushed and confused, "But why?"

Ichigo glared at the floor, "Because the bastard called me a strawberry."

Rukia put her hands together in front of her and looked up at him with begging eyes, "Please, Ichigo, he didn't know. Please? Just give him a chance. I beg you."

"He should've fucking known better from the damn start!" Grimmjow growled.

Ulquiorra nodded, "He should know how people would have been saying things like that all his life." came his ever-unemotional reply.

Ichigo sighed at the expression on the small girl's face, "Fine. Probation."

Rukia looked relieved and happy, "Thank you, Ichigo!"

"Yeah, sure." Ichigo's voice held a tone of defeat.

Rukia looked to the other two, "And you two?"

Grimmjow crossed his arms, "Tch, whatever."

"Probation." Ulquiorra confirmed, both of them predictably siding with Ichigo.

The rest of the morning passed uneventfully and Ichigo praised the powers that be that he didn't share any other morning classes with the white bastard. He was the first one on the roof with Ulquiorra and Grimmjow right behind him, seeing as they all had the same classes.

Nel was the next one to come through the door, "Hi, guys!" she sat between Ichigo and Grimmjow. Noting the tense mood about the three, her exuberance faded, "What's wrong?"

"There is a new student. Rukia wants him for the group. He called Ichi-nii a strawberry. After begging by Rukia, he has three votes for probation." Ulquiorra summarized.

Nel bit her thumbnail and nodded, "Then that's gonna be my vote, too."

Ichigo bumped her with his knee and she looked over to see him give her a small smile of thanks. She smiled back and nodded before putting her lunch in front of her.

* * *

POV switch

* * *

Shiro followed Rukia up to the roof, "Okay, we aren't very popular; my friends and I; so please don't make fun of them, we get enough of that from everyone else. I'll explain everything you need to know about us."

"Got it." he replied shortly as she opened the door. He saw trees around in specific intervals and a group of people around one of them. The first person he saw when they approached was the spiky headed -not that he had any right to talk- orange-haired teen that had cussed him out earlier. Rukia's advice from moments before connected the dots in his head and he couldn't help his muttered, "Fuck."

Rukia gave him an odd look before sitting down and motioning to the empty space next to her, on her left. There was quiet chatter and he opened his mouth to speak, but Rukia shook her head and made a 'shush' sign. It was only a few moments more before the sound of the door opening reached his ears. He looked up to see a tall buff teen with teal hair and blue eyes stand up. A lightly tanned boy that was about an inch or two shorter than Shiro himself came over and waved, "Hi everyone." the boy had black hair, strangely light colored golden eyes and odd red stripe-like tattoos on his face. He also had a weird helmet that looked like the skull of a sabertoothed tiger.

The blue-haired teen wrapped an arm around the shorter male's shoulders and pulled him close, leaning down and kissing his cheek, "Hey, babe."

The tiger-like teen leaned into the other, "Morning, Grimm." he purred before returning the innocent kiss. They sat down next to a girl with aqua colored hair and an odd pink mark across the bridge of her nose.

Rukia cleared her throat, "This is Shiro." she said simply. Some of the others nodded and a few whispered a quiet 'hey'. Rukia started introductions.

The boy with the long, wild red hair and zigzagging tribal tattoos was Renji. Next to him was a boy with glasses and neatly cared-for midnight hair named Uryu. After him was a large male with deeply tanned skin and brown hair named Chad.

Next to Chad was the tiger-teen named Ggio, half sitting in the lap of his blue-haired boyfriend, Grimmjow. On the other side of those two was Grimmjow's cousin, Nelliel, and the bright pink mark on her nose was a birthmark. On her other side was Ichigo, and apparently he was Grimmjow's younger brother.

Next to Ichigo was a boy nearly as pale as Shiro who had green tear-trail tattoos and emerald green eyes with black hair, his name was Ulquiorra and he was younger brother to both Ichigo and Grimmjow. On his other side was a girl with pumpkin-orange hair and huge assets, she was apparently a bit of an air-head and her gray eyes often stared off at nothing, her name was Orihime. Kneeling next to her was her best friend, Tatsuki, her semi-short black hair seemed as untamable as Ichigo's and Shiro's own and her eyes were an interesting onyx color.

On _her _other side was a pink-haired boy with gold eyes and white framed rectangle glasses named Szayel. Next was a lanky and tall man with straight black hair down to his shoulderblades and an eyepatch, his name was Nnoitora. The final person, sitting between Nnoitora and Shiro, was a boy named Tesla, who had two aqua colored tattoos on his cheeks and light, almost blond, brown hair.

Rukia then started, as she explained it, giving dish; the interesting information. And it was interesting. Tesla was Ggio's cousin, and Nnoitora's boyfriend, he was also Nelliel's best friend. Nelliel was Nnoitora's girlfriend and Shiro was sure that he'd misheard her. But no, Tesla confirmed that Nnoitora was both his and Nel's -as he called her- boyfriend. He was told that she took turns sitting with them and with Grimmjow. Not only were they in some kind of freaky three-way relationship, but they all three lived together in their own house.

Nelliel had a little sister and a mother, but no father in the picture. He was told not to ask about Tesla's and Ggio's family. Ggio lived with someone, though Shiro couldn't figure out who it was, and the tiger-teen apparently didn't like it.

Nnoitora had been tossed out of his house by his good-for-nothing father and left to his own devices. Where he got the money he needed for things was shrouded in mystery.

Szayel lived alone with his older brother, Yylfordt, and the two were in a relationship that was completely hush-hush for obvious reasons.

Orihime's parents died in a car crash when she was young and her brother had died in a mugging only two years ago. Rukia lived with Orihime in the latter's apartment due to an arrangement with Rukia's brother.

Renji had a place to himself and his working background was as much of a mystery as Nnoitora's.

Uryu lived with his father, who'd run off on him after his mother had died when he was a child, because his grandfather who had cared for him in the interim had died.

Chad lived with his mom and he'd also had a really close relationship with his grandfather when he'd been alive.

Ichigo had a huge family, two brothers and two sisters, his father, and him. No mother in the picture, she had, apparently, died when he was only eight. Grimmjow was his older brother and had been held back a year, while Ulquiorra was some kind of genius and had skipped a grade. From what Shiro could tell, Ulquiorra was also an emotionless bastard while his eldest brother more than made up for it.

The orange-haired boy sat up from where he'd been leaning earlier with his back against the tree with his eyes closed. His arms were crossed and he opened eyes the color of deep warm honey, or richly aged whisky, "Now that we're all here, first things first; what the hell happened yesterday?"

"I was out with food poisoning." Tesla answered.

Grimmjow winced, "Same for me and Ulqui."

Ggio copied his lover, "Me as well."

"My little sister was sick and my mother asked me to watch over her for the day." Nel said.

"I wasn't going to leave Tesla alone to suffer. I may be a bastard, but I'm not that bad." Nnoitora replied.

Orihime bowed with her head to the ground from her kneeling position, "I'm so sorry everyone! I promise I won't make you eat my cooking anymore."

There was a muttered, 'amen' from nearly everyone present.

Shiro looked over and found himself staring directly into honey-brown eyes, "So, Shiro, what's your story?"

Everyone quieted and looked at him, waiting. He cleared his throat, "Well, I just moved here with my guardian for his new job."

Rukia tilted her head, "Guardian?"

"Yeah, no parents."

"That must be hard."

"Nah. He's great." he said.

Everyone started chatting and opened their lunches to eat. Figuring that in front of his friends would be the best way to apologize, Shiro took a deep breath and looked up at closed brown eyes, "Hey, Ichigo."

The orange-head looked over at him, "Yeah?"

" 'M sorry 'bout earlier. I didn' mean t' offend you."

Those brown eyes turned suspicious and seemed to stare at him forever, searching for something. Then they warmed and he shrugged, "It's fine. Everyone does it."

Shiro flinched at that, knowing how much it hurt when everyone made fun of him for his looks, "Yeah, still, sorry."

"Eh, I didn't exactly take the higher ground, though, did I?"

Shiro snickered at that, "True, but ya had reason t' sling mud as much as I did."

The others looked between the two, "Would someone tell us what's going on?"

"Earl'er, in class, I sort of called Ichigo a strawberry."

Ichigo snickered, "At which point I called Shiro a fucking snowflake."

"C'rrection: A demented fucking snowflake." the two of them stared at each other for a moment before bursting out laughing.

Several of the others looked angry, others stunned. Renji was one of the stunned ones, "It's been a long time since someone called Ichigo a strawberry and didn't get the hell beat out of them for it."

Rukia cleared her throat, "I'd like to welcome Shiro to the group."

Shiro noticed almost all of the others tense around them. Ichigo leaned back against the tree with his legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles. He seemed the only one relaxed besides Szayel and Ulquiorra. He nodded towards Shiro, "Probation. But I'm leaning heavily towards 'yes'."

"I vote 'yes'." Rukia said.

"Probation." Grimmjow said, his face showed that he didn't forgive Shiro's slip as easily as Ichigo did.

"Probation." Ulquiorra said in an emotionless voice.

"Yes!" Orihime gushed.

Tatsuki shrugged, "I'm fine with it."

Szayel flipped his hair back, "It doesn't really matter to me: I abstain."

"I say probation." Ggio remarked.

"I'll trust Ichigo on this and say probation." Uryu said as he adjusted his glasses. Chad nodded beside him.

"I'm with them on this." Nel said, nodding to those she was sandwiched between.

"I vote 'no'." that came, surprisingly, from Tesla.

"Then I vote 'yes'." Nnoitora said with a smirk.

Shiro looked around the circle, "What's with the votes?"

Rukia looked at him, "We're voting on if you should be allowed in the group or not."

"I get th' yes 'r no, but wha's with this probation stuff?"

Szayel smiled, "It means we're giving you enough rope to either pull yourself up or hang yourself with." he said cheerily.

"Why?"

Everyone immediately found either the sky, ground, or tree vastly fascinating. Grimmjow snarled, "Because the last bastard that we let in and trusted waited for a chance and then tried to rape Ichigo. Buff bastard almost managed it, too."

"Grimmjow!" the furious voice of a pissed off strawberry-haired teen shouted.

He winced, "Sorry, Ichi, but that scared the hell out of me."

The silence was deafening and the tension thick enough to cut with a plastic butter knife. Rukia coughed, "So, Ichigo, how's your knee today?"

He shrugged and looked away, " 's Fine. Dad took care of it last night."

Nel looked at him in surprise, "What happened to your knee, Ichi?"

"Luppi and his friends."

Ggio spoke up, "I saw him this morning. What happened to Luppi?"

Ichigo got a feral smirk, "That would be myself and Grimm."

Quite a few of the others laughed at that. Rukia stopped and looked up at Shiro, "Oh! Shiro-kun, here, give me your cellphone number."

Shiro pulled out his phone and showed it to the petite girl. She did something on her phone and about a dozen different ringtones were heard. Shiro watched as Ichigo, Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, Nel, Ggio, Uryu, Renji, Chad, Tatsuki and Orihime all looked at their phones. A moment later, everyone else did the same. Shiro looked down again as he heard his own text tone and saw Rukia fiddling with it. She then handed it back to him, "There you go. Now we all have your number and you have all of ours."

"Uh, thanks."

Shiro looked up when an odd ringtone played. He glanced up at Grimmjow when he pulled open his phone, "What's that ringtone?"

Teal eyes were glued to the screen, " 'Holiday' by Greenday." he answered. He typed a reply to the text and closed his phone.

Shiro looked around and waited for the ring, but none came. He noticed though that Ichigo still had his phone out and was looking at it. He closed it after a moment and put it in his back pocket. Shiro figured that he must have had it on silent, and wondered what Grimmjow and Ichigo had said.

* * *

POV switch

* * *

Ggio stretched up like Ichigo had taught him and felt the satisfying crack of his spine before he glanced at his companions, "So, am I invited over tonight?"

Ichigo looked up at his brother and raised a brow, "Invited, kidnapped..."

Grimm smiled and pulled Ggio close, "After not seeing you all of yesterday, you think I'm going to let you out of my sights now?"

Ggio looked up at his teal-haired lover and purred, "I'd hope not."

Ichigo nodded before taking the front, Ggio and Grimm ten feet back in the middle, with Ulqui trailing behind. It gave each of them their space, but allowed for ease of mind that they could see one another. Ichigo had his eyes trained on his phone, texting.

_G's coming over to spend the night. That okay? -IK._

_I always make plenty! We'll have enough for everyone and then some! ^-^ -Yuzu._

_Good to know. See you soon. -IK._

_Later, Ichi-nii! -Yuzu._

The rest of the walk home was uneventful, until they reached the door. Ggio stood back while the others looked at one another, no one wanting to be the first one through the door. They had all agreed that guests were exempt from the whirlwind that was Isshin, so Ggio was safe, but that didn't help decide who would open the door. Personally, Ggio found this all absolutely hilarious and had to hold back his snickers.

Ichigo held his fist out, the others copying him, "One, two, three, shoot!" he grinned when he and Ulqui both came up rock to Grimm's scissors. He faced Ulqui and they did a second round in silence, Ichigo coming out with scissors to Ulquiorra's paper. He stepped back to Ggio with a grin on his face, "Ah, sweet success."

Ichigo pulled Ggio to the right three steps by his sleeve as Grimmjow reached for the doorknob. There was a single moment of silence as Grimmjow and Ulquiorra stood just inside before the blur that was Isshin attacked, "GRIMMJOW AND ULQUIORRA, MY LONG LOST CHILDREN!" With a smooth motion from Ulquiorra, Isshin went flying right past them to land on his face, in the exact spot Ichigo and Ggio had been standing in just moments before.

Stepping over the prone form of his father, Ichigo motioned their guest in, "Come on in."

Karin was waiting in the armchair in the livingroom, "Hey guys. Hi, Ggio."

"Hey, sis."

"Hi, Karin."

Yuzu's head poked around the corner, "Niisan! Ggio-kun! Welcome home!"

There was a unanimous, "Hi, Yuzu." as the boys made themselves comfortable in the livingroom. They split into two groups, Grimm with Ggio, Ulquiorra with Ichigo, to do homework until dinner.

Ichigo looked up when he felt a buzz and grabbed his phone.

_Im kinda glad we aren't rly rltd to tht crzy idiot. -GJK._

_Blood doesn't equal family, Aniki. -IK._

_Too true, Otouto. -GJK._

Grimmjow looked over his shoulder towards the kitchen, "Hey, Yuzu."

The kind chocolate eyes and light brown hair popped out around the corner, "Yes, Niisan?"

"Do you think maybe you could make some of your home-made vanilla icecream for dessert the day after tomorrow? You know, since we'll all be together again?"

She nodded, "Sure! That sounds really good, actually. Okay, then!"

He looked down when his phone buzzed.

_They'll really enjoy that. -IK._

_I hope so. -GJK._

Karin got up when Yuzu called her name, "Head's up, guys; dinner in ten." she said as she went to set the table.

x

**_And that's chapter one. Until next time!_**


	2. Chapter 2

Ichigo came upright in bed to see Ulqui standing in his doorway with his hands up. He stepped further in the room, movements slow, "Good morning, Aniki."

Ichigo ran a hand through his hair, "Morning, Ulqui."

"Go take a shower and get dressed. I'll strip the bed for you and we can make it together when you get back."

It was a measure of the other's exhaustion that Ichigo didn't even argue it like he usually did, "Okay."

Ulquiorra watched sadly as the orange-haired teen slunk off to the bathroom. He tore the sheets and blankets off of the bed and tossed them into the hamper. By how ragged Ichigo had looked and his lack of fight, it must have been a particularly bad night. Ichigo had suffered from nightmares ever since he was eight. _No, ever since Mom..._

Ulquiorra shook his head as he got out the fresh linens, if only he and Grimm had been there. They were supposed to be there! Masaki had wanted a day out with her three boys, it didn't matter to her that she hadn't even birthed two of them, they were all her boys. Ichigo had saved them both and given them a home, a mother that loved them, a father that cared, little sisters that looked up to them, and they hadn't even been there on the worst day of his life.

Ulquiorra had just turned eight himself the week before. Of course the Kurosaki household, plus Grimmjow, had thrown a party for him. Masaki had baked a cake for him, Ichigo and Yuzu had helped, and it showed in the flour and frosting they were covered in. Karin and Grimmjow had helped Isshin hang decorations for him. All three of the boys had gotten high off the sugar rush and crashed a little later in the evening, Grimmjow on the floor, leaning against Masaki's legs, Ichigo curled up and snuggled into her side, and Ulquiorra laid out with his head on her lap. It wasn't the first time it had happened, and her one hand trailed through his hair while her other rested on Ichigo's head and her legs moving softly, almost rocking Grimmjow to sleep.

He looked up to find Ichigo leaned against the doorjamb, staring at him, "What?"

"What's wrong? You look like me."

He looked down at the sheets in his arms, "I was thinking about Mom..."

"Me too."

"I was remembering my last birthday party with her."

Ichigo chuckled, "Three layer cake, chocolate, vanilla, and devil's food, with blueberry, strawberry, and coconut frosting, in that order."

Ulquiorra chuckled along with him, "In hindsight, not the best choice of flavors."

"Hey, we ate it. There were no leftovers the next day."

Ulquiorra grabbed the sheet and put the rest of the blankets on Ichigo's desk chair while the orange-haired teen moved to the far side of the bed, "Come to think of it, that day may have been the start of your iron stomach for Orihime's cooking."

"Nah, had we had exchanged the frostings for guacamole and enchilada sauce, I'd consider it." Ichigo couldn't help but laugh at the look on Ulqui's face.

The pale teen shook his head, "Eeh. That was a set of flavors I didn't ever need to even imagine mixing."

"Sorry."

He shook his head again, "Thanks for helping raise my spirits."

Ichigo smiled sadly, "It's what you always do for me."

_Not often enough._ Came the younger's thoughts. The rest of the bed-making process went quickly and quietly as they worked. Ulquiorra almost always helped Ichigo make his bed. To get the other to agree, he claimed it was practice since he didn't have his own to make. Their house was rather cramped with five people in it, so Karin and Yuzu shared a room, and Ichigo and Grimmjow both had their own. Isshin had the master bedroom and Ulquiorra got the couch. He'd actually chosen the couch in spite of an offer by Isshin to hire a contractor to build another bedroom.

Nearly every time he'd come over when he was little, he would at the very least catch a nap on the couch with Masaki and/or Ichigo running their fingers through his hair. Ichigo and her were the only ones to ever do that for him, the only ones to ever know how soothing and comforting he found it. Ichigo had done it first when he'd first found Ulquiorra crying in a side alley in the rain, saying that his mother used to do it for him to calm him when he'd had a nightmare. It had worked wonders, calming him down enough for him to stop sobbing and introduce himself.

It would, by far and away, not be the last time Ulquiorra ran away from home after an 'episode' as his parents called them. Ichigo had brought him home that evening and it was the start of something huge, more than a friendship; a brotherhood. At that point, Ulquiorra followed his orange-haired protector absolutely everywhere, though Ichigo didn't mind in the least. After he told Ichigo and his mother about his home life, if it could be called that, they said that their door was always open to him, and he took them at their word.

He kept all the things he didn't want to lose at the Kurosaki household and stayed there at least four nights a week, they'd even given him a key, at Ichigo's insistence, in case they were asleep or not there when he needed a place to stay. His junkies of parental figures barely noticed his absence, and there were far fewer bruises on his small form, all because of Ichigo. Masaki insisted that he call her Mom, and he was thrilled to do so.

Less than a month later, they met Grimmjow, who had his own problems and demons. He'd also been practically-adopted by the Kurosaki's like Ulquiorra, also because of Ichigo. And yet neither of them had been there when it mattered most. That day would forever be etched into all of their memories.

Both he and Grimmjow had shown up bruised and scraped on the doorstep that afternoon to find a frantic Isshin. It had been raining since early morning. He said that both Masaki and Ichigo had been gone since that morning. He asked them if they knew anywhere that they could be and they both told him about the walk by the river that she'd planned for the three of them with her. Isshin had called a family friend, Urahara, to watch 'the kids' and gotten his coat on to rush out the door.

They'd both run after him, not willing to sit there while their brother and mom were missing. After a brief but heated argument, he'd allowed them to go with him. What they'd found when they got to the river had permanently scarred them all, but none more so than Ichigo. Nearly dark at that point, working with the flashes of lightning to search, Ulquiorra and Grimmjow had spotted them first, their screams alerting Isshin.

They'd felt frozen when they'd spotted the unmoving figures in a flash of light. They weren't stupid or naive, they knew full well what that puddle of red was that surrounded the two most important people in their lives.

The next thing Ulquiorra remembered was standing and looking down into unseeing honey-colored eyes and thinking that Ichigo was dead as well. Grimmjow had had to shake him hard and point out that dead people didn't shiver in order for him to snap back to the situation. Isshin had appeared then and pulled Masaki off of Ichigo, and uncaring of the blood on him, both Ulquiorra and Grimmjow had flung themselves at him, unashamed of their tears.

It seemed that the two of them were just what Ichigo had needed. He'd finally started crying and hugged them like they were the only things holding him to the world. Isshin had called the paramedics and police and they'd stayed there shivering in the rain for another half-hour before the flashing lights alerted them to the authorities arriving. When the medics had attempted to separate the three boys they'd gotten a glimpse into hell with the fit they'd all thrown.

Another good friend of their father's, a lady named Unohana, had come in and personally taken care of them, allowing them to stay together. She'd come to the conclusion that Ichigo was fine, physically, but for a minor case of hypothermia, and that all of them were in shock, Ichigo the worst, of course, and that it was highly possible for all three of them to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sure enough, to the day, they suffered from horrible nightmares that only one of the others could soothe. For the next two months, none of them could be so much as out of sight or they'd have panic attacks. They slept together like a bundle of puppies looking for warmth.

They still hated to be without the others, and their bond was definitely closer than brothers; they needed each other. When they'd gone back to school they'd managed to make friends with others that were as different or hurt as them, though Ulquiorra and Grimmjow both knew it was due solely to Ichigo. Masaki had been the one to instill that need to protect in their brother, and neither of them was going to do a damn thing to discourage it in the least.

They'd always had an almost sixth sense when it came to the others' being in trouble since that day by the river. So when they both got a bad feeling during their freshmen year, they noticed immediately that they were missing a certain orange-haired teen. To say they were shocked to find Ichigo being accosted by someone they thought of as a friend would be an understatement. To say they were royally fucking pissed off would be an even bigger understatement.

Ichigo was no pushover, none of them were, even more so since they'd joined the underground, and yet the bastard had nearly succeeded in his attempt. To say that he was given the beating of a lifetime and strung up from the flagpole would be yet another understatement. He was also the reason that the trio tended to react so violently to Ichigo being called a strawberry.

What no one else knew, not even Isshin, was that said bastard had made a second attempt on their brother while he'd been visiting Masaki's grave. His pet name for Ichigo had been 'My little Strawberry'. After that, it had been open war. Ulquiorra and Grimmjow had gone after every single person that hung around the people that knew that bastard.

"Earth to Ulqui." Ichigo tapped on his forehead with two knuckles.

He started and looked up, "Huh?"

Ichigo sighed and shook his head, "You going to get ready for the day, or do you intend to stare off into space for the rest of forever?"

"Sorry, guess I just spaced out for a minute there." he smiled sheepishly, "Everyone's allowed an Orihime-moment every now and then."

"True, now let's go." they walked out and Ichigo knocked on the door opposite his, "Ggio, time to get up."

Groans that they both, for the sake of their sanity, were going to assume were from a sleepy person waking up, came from the other side, " 'Kay, thanks, Ichi. Go on down to breakfast, I'll wake up Grimm." the last part of that had been said in a definite purr.

Ichigo wrinkled his nose, "T.M.I. Ggio. Top floor's all yours."

Ulquiorra shook his head as they descended the stairs, "At least they have someone to wash each other's backs."

Ichigo faux-gagged, "Uh, I'm scarred enough: I don't need to imagine Grimm's naked ass."

Ulquiorra bumped shoulders with him and they both laughed, "Oh? What about Ggio?"

Ichigo shook his head, "He's cute, I'll admit, but there are a few problems. One: taken. Two: not my type."

The pale teen couldn't help but smirk, "You mean because he's the uke?"

The orange-haired teen's expression of shock was priceless, "Ulqui!"

As soon as he saw the shock start to turn into hurt, he held up his hands, "I was kidding, Aniki. Forgive me, I know I shouldn't have said that."

The other shook his head and sighed, "No, it's not your fault. I have to get over it sometime." he bumped shoulders with his little brother, "And if I weren't such a prude, I would have laughed."

Ulquiorra stopped on the next step and his head snapped up, "Do you smell that?"

Ichigo froze, "Yuzu's making chocolate-chip waffles."

Both their gazes caught the other out of the corner of their eye, and simultaneous, "Race ya!" fell from their lips.

* * *

Ichigo sighed as he took his seat at lunch, thinking about his talk with Ulquiorra earlier. He had been right, and that's what bugged him. He knew that if time had somehow reversed and he and Ulqui had had the same conversation before the whole 'incident', he would have laughed his ass off. That's what bugged him, knowing what he should be, but being unable to be that. It wouldn't be misstating things to say that it drove him crazy.

He was the first one on the roof, or so he thought, "Hey, King."

He opened his eyes and looked around without seeing anything. He was confused until he heard a snicker and looked up to see white hidden in the green above him, "Shiro? What the hell are you doing up there?"

The albino shrugged, "I cut my last class and decided to hang around up here for everyone. Want t' join me?"

"Sure." the other looked surprised at the ease with which Ichigo squirreled up the tree, "What, didn't think I could climb?"

He was sure he saw a light blush dust those pale cheeks before Shiro looked away, "I didn' say that."

"You didn't have to: your surprise said it for you."

"Whatever. So, uh, how's your knee today?"

"Fine. I heal fast, plus with the high quality of medical products we get, I rarely show signs of a fight past several days."

Shiro tilted his head, "Medical products?"

"You don't know? My father runs the Kurosaki clinic. My brothers and I often help out, so we know all about fixing ourselves up."

"Oh."

Ichigo was about to speak when his phone started to ring. Shiro raised a pale brow as the orange thing blasting out 'Bad to the bone' and Ichigo smiled at him before flipping it open without looking at the screen, knowing full well who the ringtone belonged to, "Hey, Hiyori, what's up?"

"The tourney's saturday night." she said and hung up.

Ichigo pulled the phone away from his ear and glared down at the dark screen, "Why, yes, we'd love to come over, you evil little midget." he said sarcastically, knowing she couldn't hear him.

He looked up when it sounded like Shiro was suffering from an air-leak, "Do you...do that...to everyone...that annoys you?" he asked between bouts of laughter.

"Do what?"

"Call them names and insult them?"

"Mostly, but I never start it. I only ever strike back, it's the way I was raised. I do my best to never strike the first blow, physically or verbally."

Shiro nodded seriously, "Well you have a great come-back, on both, from what I can see."

"Uh, thanks." confused by the feeling going through his chest and the weird urge he had to invite Shiro over, he decided to go with his instincts, "Hey, Shiro."

"Yeah?"

"Would you like to come over tomorrow?"

"You're inviting me over on a weekend?"

"Unless through some odd turn of events that I missed that the week is now an extra day long, yes; I'm pretty sure that's what I was implying."

Shiro cackled at that and nodded, "Sure thing."

"Ichi? Hello? Ichigo?" Grimm's voice came from below them.

"Up here, stand back." he said and jumped from the tree to land in a perfect crouch. He glanced down at his phone when it buzzed.

_Could ya have him turn around for a moment? If I'm going to fall out of a tree, I'd rather it be without witnesses. -Shiro._

Ichigo shook his head, "Hey, Grimm, go stall the others for a minute."

The blue-eyed male looked at him quizzically for a moment before shrugging, "Okay."

He watched his brother walk away before turning back to the tree. He pointed at his feet, "Just jump and aim for where I'm standing."

"Are you nuts? You want me to flatten you?"

"I don't know how long he'll be gone, you'd best hurry."

"Fine, but don't blame me if you get several new bruises."

He rolled his eyes, "Just jump."

"Banzai." he heard muttered before Shiro fell.

Shiro was a bit heavier than Ichigo was expecting and he staggered as the albino hit him. They teetered and it actually seemed it was going to work for a moment before they fell in a heap, "OOF!"

Shiro looked down at him for a minute before they both started laughing, "I...told ya...so!"

Ichigo reached up and rubbed his forehead from where they'd bumped heads in the plummet, "We definitely have to work on your landings."

"My, my, my. Shall I come back at a more convenient time?" a gruff voice said from their right.

Shiro quickly hopped off Ichigo and sat next to the tree, cheeks a bright pink, "Ah, no. Tha's not nece'sry."

Ichigo dusted himself off and sat next to Shiro, his cheeks just as pink, "Astounding timing as always, Grimm."

Grimmjow smirked and sat a full space away on Ichigo's other side. He pulled out his phone and fiddled with it for a moment.

Ichigo waited for his phone to buzz and was surprised when he heard 'Who let the dogs out?' coming from Shiro's pocket. Ichigo noted that it was the same phone that he and his brothers owned, though in white. Hoping it wouldn't offend, but too curious for his own good, he plopped his chin on Shiro's shoulder and read the text.

_Hurt my brother and I'll castrate you. -Grimmjow._

Ichigo glared at his brother over Shiro's shoulder and pulled out his own phone.

_I invited him to dinner tomorrow. -IK._

_What?! -GJK._

Grimm's phone played an odd ringtone and he choked when he read whatever it was. Ichigo looked at Shiro when he felt a tug on his sleeve. The albino leaned back into Ichigo with a huge grin on his face and showed him the text he'd just sent.

_Got a thing fer leather and blades, Grimm?~ -Shirosaki._

The two laughed together at the expression on Grimmjow's face. Ichigo looked down again when his phone buzzed in his hand.

_Easy ta rile, ain't he, King?~ -Shiro._

Ichigo looked at Shiro and nodded. They were both smiling at one another when the others all arrived. When everyone was settled, Ulquiorra on his left with Grimmjow on Ulqui's other side and Ggio in his lap. Shiro was on his right with Szayel on his other side with Orihime, Tatsuki, Nel, Nnoi, Tesla, Rukia, Renji, Chad and Uryu in that order.

* * *

POV Switch

* * *

Shiro looked down when his phone started ringing obnoxiously loud, "God, will you silence that damn thing? It's annoying as hell! You're supposed to have your phone off during school hours."

He snorted and shook his head, ignoring the teal menace in favor of reading his text.

_What Grimmjow is trying to say is that we aren't even supposed to have our phones on during school hours, and you may give us away. Also, knowing what your ringtone is for him, he asked me to add that having your volume on max sort of voids the point of talking in secret via text. -Ulquiorra._

_Thanks fer the info. -Shiro._

_That wasn't why I chose to text you. It's been a very long time since someone besides Grimmjow or myself managed to make him laugh, and you've managed to do it two days in a row. -Ulquiorra._

_I like him, too. -Shiro._

_Just be careful how deep you dig, you may not like what you uncover. -Ulquiorra._

Shiro looked up to see Ulquiorra putting his emerald green phone away. He caught the other's eye and nodded. Ulquiorra nodded once in return and threw his attention back into the conversation going on around them.

"It's tomorrow." Ichigo said, and Shiro had a moment of severe confusion.

Grimmjow's grin threatened to split his face, "So, Shirosaki, how are ya at fighting?"

Ichigo glanced up at him sharply, "Grimmjow." he said warningly.

" 's fine, King, let 'im ask. 'M good 'n a fight. Why?"

Rukia looked around, "Vote to bring up the underground?"

Grimmjow nodded, "I vote 'hell yeah'!"

No other vote, apparently, was needed once Ichigo decided, "Accepted."

"Wait," Renji started, "I think he should have the chance to choose, because most of us here didn't."

The strawberry-haired teen nodded, "That's fine."

Grimmjow sighed, "Really though, would any of us have chosen differently? Nel, what about you? You'd have the most to gain if you could unpick."

The aqua-haired girl shook her head, "No, I'd still have chosen the same."

Shiro looked around the circle, "Um, could someone tell me wha's goin' on?"

Renji nodded, "Well, there's something that you don't know about the town. But this is something that leads to so much other stuff, and you can't ever unknow this if you decide you don't want anything to do with it. Would you still want to know?"

"I nev' run away from anythin'."

Rukia clapped her hands together, "Great! So, it's like this-"

"Rukia, no." Ichigo shook his head.

The petite girl cocked her head, "Ichigo?"

"It's not your responsibility anymore."

She looked confused for a moment before her eyes lit up, "You sure?"

He nodded and turned to Shiro, "I'll explain." Shiro noticed Grimmjow and Ulquiorra sharing a look that Ichigo didn't see.

"Start 'splainin' then, 'cause 'm confused as fuck."

"Our town, Karakura, is like this on the up-and-up. But on the underside, the side that only comes out at night, it's different. Illicit activities and things that aren't entirely legal. Everything from sword fights and cage fights to illegal paraphernalia. Mostly though, control of the streets." he ran a hand through his hair, "This is going to require a little history. See, Karakura used to be divided into three factions. There was the Quincy faction, the Hollow faction, and the Soul Reaper faction. Things were alot more violent back then, and the Soul Reapers went on a rampage against the entire Quincy faction. What resulted was nothing less than the extermination of every Quincy that they could find."

Uryu adjusted his glasses, "My grandfather was a Quincy, as was my father. I was trained in their ways and still carry my grandfather's cross."

Ichigo nodded and looked back to Shiro, "Like I said, it was alot more violent back then. The old man that was in charge of the Soul Reapers back then is gone now, in fact, Rukia's older brother, Byakuya, is the head captain now. Anyway, that was all about twenty years ago, give or take. Nowadays, it's different, and there are more factions. Today, there are five groups. There's the Soul Reapers, the Vizards, the Hollows, the Arrancar faction, and the Bounts."

Shiro noticed the almost affectionate way Ichigo introduced the groups up until the end, and the amount of tension in his voice when he said 'Bounts'. He was guessing that whoever the Bounts were, Ichigo really didn't like them. He resettled himself to listen to Ichigo's explanation.

"The Soul Reapers and Hollows are the oldest of the groups, and they've always had a strong rivalry." he smiled when Rukia snorted, "Okay, it was more like an open-ended war. They were complete opposites. The Hollows were very much a rag-tag sort of group, no hierarchy to speak of; more like a large gang of bullies with no real leader. But they had numbers, and they were ruthless, not afraid to take a battle to its ultimate conclusion, they had to be good fighters just to survive each other and the darker part of town they lived in.

"The Soul Reapers were very much an organized group, more like a small army than a gang. They had a certain structured order based on who was strongest. They divided into thirteen groups based off who was best at what, be it stealth or raw strength. In each squad there were ranks, sticking with the number, I guess, there were thirteen ranks, or seats as they call them. The final two ranks aren't called seats, and unlike the other ranks, can be held by only one person each; the two strongest in each squad. The person with the top spot is called a Captain, the one right under them in the ranks is their Lieutenant. The squads don't always work the best with each other, though, another reason they were always in a give-and-take relationship with the Hollows.

"Neither could effectively gain the upper-hand and it continued for quite a long time. Several people in the Soul Reapers didn't like how completely controlled everything was, and it was very strict indeed, and branched off on their own, disliking the complete chaos of the Hollows just as much. Those people became the Vizards. The Vizards carved out their own territory over in the warehouse district, and in fact, they even hold tournaments on their ground with the other factions. If you're looking for neutral, the Vizards are as close as you're going to come around here.

"That stood at a stand-still for several years as well, though the Soul Reapers were resentful of the Vizards for splitting off at first and even tried to eliminate them like they had to the Quincy faction. Once proven that the Vizards, one; were hard to get ahold of and, two; knew how to kick ass, they were pretty much left alone.

"Then some of the Hollows got sick and tired of the mess that their faction was proven to be, they followed the example left by the Vizards and split off from their group. They made their own, the Arrancar. While they still held the deep hatred for the Soul Reapers that was instilled in all Hollows, they wanted structure, some kind of ranking that would keep everyone in line. They came up with their own number system, and their own higher powers. The strongest of the Arrancar are called Espada, and are numbered zero through nine."

"Wait, why zero through nine? Why no' one through ten? Tha' makes more sense."

"Not if you think of it the way they do. It's not a showing of who's the best, it's more of a warning to their opponent. Like this, when they're numbered like that, if you meet the eighth Espada and see the number, it's a warning that there are eight Espada stronger than them."

"Oh, I get it. So even th' number one Espada still has someone higher 'n 'im."

"Exactly, and the Cero Espada, the zero, has no one in the group higher in power than them."

"So, 'r' th' rest of th' Arrancar numbered too?"

"Yes, all of them are numbered. They're alot fewer Arrancar than Hollows or Soul Reapers, but more than the Vizards. Right now, there are hundreds of Soul Reapers and Hollows respectively, and a couple dozen Vizards, while the Arrancar number somewhere in the high eighties. All Arrancar have their number rank somewhere on them, but it changes almost constantly with fights to go up in the ranks. The Espada vary rarely change, though, and they have a tattoo somewhere on their body that denotes their rank in the top ten."

"Mus' be a bitch when they lose their spot then. Heard it hur's like a bitch to get a tat removed."

"Sometimes, I suppose. I know of only one exception to this. The Tercera, the number three, spot is held by two people right now. Both appear to be the exact same strength and they were willing to share it. It's very unusual for one of the Arrancar to settle for anything, let alone two of them on the same thing and agreeing to share."

"Can we take 'im, Ichi? Please?" Grimmjow apparently wasn't above giving puppydog eyes to get his way.

Shiro spoke up, "As fun as all this history is, why did I need to know it?"

Ichigo sighed and glared up at his brother, "Because several of us here belong to afore mentioned groups."

Now that shocked Shiro, "What?! Who?"

Rukia, Renji, Szayel, Nel, Nnoitora, Tesla, Ggio, Grimmjow, and Ulquiorra all raised their hands. Ichigo sighed again, "I am as well, but let me explain."

"Yer gonna explain how ev'ryone bu' Chad, Uryu, Orihime, an' Tatsuki 'r' in some illegal gang? Oh, yes, please do."

"Renji and Rukia both got into it because of her older brother. When I met Rukia at the beginning of last year, through an odd series of events, I ended up becoming something of a substitute Soul Reaper, though it seems rather permanent if you ask me. Anyway, each faction has their own form of a membership I.D. The Soul Reapers have their Shihakusho and a necklace." Ichigo reached inside his uniform and pulled out a necklace with a small sword on it. He took it off and showed the small completely black blade to Shiro before putting it back on. Renji took his off and tossed it over, showing off the bone-like snake charm on it.

Ichigo held out his hand, showing Shiro the mask ring on his middle finger, "Each of the Vizards gets a mask. Each is different for each person and this is mine."

Shiro twisted Ichigo's hand this way and that to get a good look at the ring, "Cool."

"The Arrancar are different, though. Much more nebulous. They carry some kind of ivory or bone on them."

Shiro tilted his head, "Huh?"

Ggio caught his eye and tapped his helmet. Szayel gave a small wave and adjusted his white-rimmed glasses. The light went off over Shiro's head, white, the glasses' frames were made of ivory or some kind of bone. He saw Tesla touch the choker at his throat, and noted that it looked like the bottom of a jaw bone. Shiro couldn't help the the shiver that wracked his spine, "Okay, tha's sorta creepy."

Szayel smirked, "And that's only those of us that that don't care if people know what we are."

Shiro cocked his head, "Wha' dya mean?"

Nnoitora leaned over and whispered in Nel's ear. Nel looked at Ichigo questioningly and, receiving a nod, stood up and turned her back to the group. Nnoitora got up and stood in front of her, reaching around her back and lifting her uniform and shirt up to reveal a large gothic black '3' emblazoned on her back.

Shiro was having trouble dealing with his shock, "So, Nel's..."

"The Tercera Espada." Nnoitora finished.

"Wow. 'Ave I fallen over yet?"

Ichigo poked him in the shoulder, "Nope, still up-right."

The albino snickered before shaking his head, "Illicit activities or no', yer all still jus' people like ev'ryone, ain't ya?"

Ichigo scoffed, "I should hope so."

"So wha' was Grimm goin' on 'bout earlier?"

"Remember how I said that the Vizards have tournaments for the other factions on their ground?" at the nod he continued, "That call I got earlier was one of my friends from the Vizards telling me that there will be one tomorrow night. That's why Grimm wanted to know if you were good in a fight; it's been a while since we last sprang a surprise at a meet, and that was his subtle way of seeing if you could be our secret weapon."

Ulquiorra gave Shiro the biggest surprise of the day when he snorted derisively, "For Grimm, that _is _subtle."

Ichigo smiled at him and nodded before looking back at Shiro, "So, what do you say?"

Shiro interlaced his fingers behind his head, "Sounds like fun. I say 'hell yeah'!"

The albino was shocked to see Grimmjow and Ulquiorra exchange a fist bump and satisfied grins. Rukia was wiggling in excitement, "This will be so much fun!"

Uryu pushed his glasses farther up his nose, "I may just come and watch. I think I'll have to see this."

The others were chattering about much the same and Shiro moved closer to Ichigo and whispered, "Hey, King. You said there were five groups, but you only went into detail about four of them. What about that last group?" he asked, specifically avoiding saying the word that Ichigo seemed to hate.

The orange-haired teen's entire demeanor changed at the query. His every muscle seemed to tense up and Shiro regretted asking. He stared down at the ground and kept his voice low so that only Shiro could hear, "The Bounts. They came out of nowhere. They absolutely hate all Soul Reapers and those that associate with them. They aren't afraid to go after civilians and use them to hurt their quarry. They also have a personal vendetta against me and are currently in a war with the Vizards and Arrancar because of it."

"All because you're a substitute Soul Reaper?"

"No."

Shiro got the impression that he really didn't want to press farther, but his curiosity refused to allow him to control his mouth, "Then why?"

He saw how hard Ichigo clenched his hands and worried that he'd draw blood, "Remember what Grimmjow said yesterday?"

Shiro looked down and thought furiously over everything that the teal-haired teen had said the day before. His gold-on-black eyes widened, "About the last person you accepted into the group?"

That seemed to be Ichigo's last straw and Shiro saw red drip from his clenched hands, "Yeah."

Shiro shot up and headed for the far side of the roof's entrance, "Hey, King, c'mere a minute!" Ichigo appeared a moment later and Shiro forced him to sit down while he grabbed one of the medical kits Tatsuki had told him about, "Fuck, Ichi-King. If you don't want to talk, then just tell me to fuck off. You shouldn't have to do this." he said as he cleaned and dressed the wounds.

Ichigo seemed almost too compliant, "Sorry."

"Don't apologize to me!" he whispered furiously. He shook his head, "I don't know what he did or said to make you do this to yerself, but I assure you, I've got the bastard's number for this little episode."

It was hard to see with Ichigo hanging his head, but he could have sworn he saw a smile, "Sorry, Shiro."

The albino sighed as he finished his first aid, "Baka. I just said don't apologize to me." Ichigo went to open his mouth and Shiro held up his hand, "Forget it."

Yes, that was definitely a smile, "What I was going to say, that time, was 'thank you'."

Shiro smirked and shrugged, "I'd have answered the same."

* * *

POV Switch

* * *

Ichigo had a silly smile on his face as he stared out the window during his last class of the day and shook his head. _This is crazy. I've only known him two days!_

He looked down at the wrappings on his hands and almost snickered at the warmth that washed through him. He shook his head again. _Dammit, I feel like a pre-teen girl!_

He looked down when his phone buzzed in his pocket.

_U ok? -GJK._

_Sorry, my head was in the clouds. -IK._

_Thts wat u get staring out windws all day evry day. -GJK._

_Toeing the line, Grimm. Careful you don't step over it. -IK,_

_Both of you shut up and pay attention! -USK._

_Sorry. -IK._

_Srry. -GJK._

It was an impatient wait for final bell and Ichigo couldn't keep still in his seat, the heel of his foot tapping up and down obsessively. He felt he needed to do _something!_ He still had his phone out and looked down at it.

_Hey, Yuzu, I have a friend I invited over for tomorrow. Is that okay? -Ichi-nii._

_Sounds great! Congratulations on making a new friend, I can't wait to meet them! Do they like vanilla? I can make more than one icecream. -Yuzu._

_Ha! Someone gets to have "the talk" with goat-face when they get home~. -Karin._

_How the hell did you find out? -Ichigo._

_Yuzu talks to herself, and Dad talks to Mom's picture. -Karin._

_(Sarcastically) Fantastic. -Ichigo._

_Hey, Shiro, what do you think of vanilla icecream? -King._

_Is that a joke or something? -Shiro._

_No. How would that be a joke? -King._

_Think about it fer a minute, it'll come to ya. -Shiro._

Ichigo tilted his head and thought for a moment, then felt his cheeks heat up when he got it.

_Ahh! No! My sister is making vanilla icecream for dessert tomorrow. But she can make another if you don't like it. -King._

_Oh, it's fine I suppose. No better or worse than any other kind I guess. -Shiro_

_If you stay over-night or come over early the next morning and taste it on her homemade chocolate-chip waffles, I guarantee it would change your mind. -King._

_That actually does sound good. I'll check with my 'dad' and let ya know. -Shiro._

_Give me a ring when you get underway so the place doesn't look too horrid when you get there. -King._

_A bit early in the relationship for rings, ain't it? -Shiro._

Ichigo scowled down at his phone.

_Oh, haha. Go ahead and make fun of me for it, everyone else has. -King._

_Make fun of you for what? -Shiro._

_You mean you don't know? -King._

_Know what?! -Shiro._

_Nothing. Nevermind. -King._

_Che, I'll find out eventually. -Shiro._

_That's what I'm afraid of. -King._

He put his phone in his pocket after that and looked up at the clock just as the bell rang. Gathering his things, he headed outside. Grimmjow burst out of the doors like the inside of the school had been lacking oxygen, "T.G.I.F!"

Ggio, Ichigo and Ulquiorra all nodded, "Hear, hear."

Grimm sighed and waved them off as he headed in the opposite direction from their house, "See you at home."

None of the others moved to go after him, they all knew that friday was Grimmjow's day to visit Masaki's grave. Ggio watched him go, "I have to head off, too. Can I come by later?"

"If you don't plan on being bodily pulled from your house otherwise." Ichigo said.

"Thanks guys."

"See you in a bit." Ichigo murmured as he and Ulqui headed for home.

Ichigo and Ulquiorra looked at one another and then at the door. The orange-haired teen sighed and reached for the door, as soon as it opened he was attacked, "ICHIGO, MY BEAUTIFUL SON! I HEARD YOU MADE A-OOFF!" his tirade was cut off as he flew face-first into Ichigo's fist.

"Cool it, goat-face. The last thing I need is you scaring Shiro away. I don't need your help or advice on my friends." he said to his father's still form on the floor. He sighed and shook his head, he really didn't want to deal with his father at the moment, "I'm going to go do inventory for the clinic."

As he walked through the connecting door, he tossed off his uniform and changed into the spare pair of clothes he kept in the clinic's closet just for situations like this one. Comfy in a black tee and blue jeans, he grabbed the clipboard and started taking inventory. He lost himself in the work and when next he looked up, an hour had passed. He heard the knock that came from the front door of the house and went to answer it.

Black bangs shadowed golden eyes, but failed to hide the newly purpling bruise on a tattooed cheek, "Ggio."

"H-hey, Ichi. S-sorry if I'm early."

"Baka." he saw the younger male flinch at the insult, "Get in here and let's get that treated. You better not have been out there longer than five minutes debating whether or not to come in."

Ggio smiled, then winced at the pain it caused, "Seven and a half, actually."

Ichigo shook his head and dragged the shorter teen over to the clinic and sat him on a bed. The first thing he did was hand him an icepack before looking around for a washrag. After finding one, he went to the cupboard and got out the bruise treatment, soaking the rag. It was high quality stuff; after using it on his knee the fist day he had been able to move without limping, and now it was just an interesting shade of greenish yellow. He held it out to Ggio, "Here. Put this on and lay back. Try to get a little sleep. I'll wake you up with a call when Grimm gets here."

The raven-haired boy nodded, "Thanks, Ichi."

"Ggio." he stopped and hesitated before plowing ahead, "You have family here, people that love you. I don't want you to feel pressured, but there's always room for one more. Just think about it, okay?"

Ggio looked shocked, "Are asking me to move in?"

Ichigo nodded, "You're thought of as more than just 'Grimmjow's boyfriend' here. We all care about you, Ggio. I haven't made this offer since Grimm and Ulqui, and I'm not making it because of your relationship with Grimmjow."

"Y-you really mean it?"

"I really mean it. You could stay in Grimm's room, or we can think of something else, but I've talked about this with my father and he agrees. Our door has always been open to you."

The tiger-teen looked away and Ichigo knew it was to hide the tears in his eyes, "Th-thank you. W-would sunday be okay?"

"Sunday will be fine. Do you need help moving?"

Ggio nodded and swallowed before his voice would work, "Help would...help would be nice."

Ichigo stepped forward, popping Ggio's personal space bubble and the golden-eyed teen looked up at him. Ichigo held his chin and tipped it down so he could kiss the tattooed teen's forehead, "Get some sleep," he smirked, "Otouto."

Ggio wiped his eyes and nodded when Ichigo backed away, "Okay. Thank you, Ichi-nii."

"You're welcome." he whispered back as he closed the door behind him.

Ulquiorra was leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed and a smile playing on his face, "It's about time. Finally, I'm not the youngest male anymore."

Ichigo chuckled, "Maybe not, but you're still my Otouto. So, how do you feel about sharing that title?"

"I'm surprisingly okay with it. I thought that I'd feel jealous, but surprisingly all I feel is... content."

"Protective?"

"That too. It was hard to treat his injuries every week and not start to feel something, you know?"

"All too well. Also, as you said, you're no longer the youngest: now you get an otouto of your very own."

Ulquiorra laughed softly so as not to disturb the one sleeping in the other room, "Yes, there's that, too. I must say, that's probably the biggest reason for my liking this."

Ichigo motioned ahead of him, "Come on, let's go inform the girls that the pterodactyl made a drop-off and got them a new brother."

Ulquiorra laughed again, like he only did at home, nodded, and followed him. They got to the kitchen and saw Karin 'helping' Yuzu cook: watching and occasionally stealing a bite of something that looked particularly tasty. Ulquiorra leaned on the counter with his elbows, out of the way, "Guess what."

"We're getting a new dog. A cat. A gopher. A ferret. They just anounced that school's canceled forever. Am I anywhere close?" Karin threw suggestions left and right.

"You were closer towards the beginning." Ulqui hinted with glee, always willing to torment the elder of the twins.

The raven-haired girl turned to her genetic brother, "Ichigo, what's going on?"

"The pterodactyl just dropped off your new brother."

Yuzu tilted her head, "Pterodactyl?"

"You don't think any stork would be strong enough to lift Ggio, do you?"

Yuzu clapped her hands together, completely oblivious to the sauce-covered wooden spoon in her hand and the spatter she created, "Ggio-kun's moving in? This is wonderful! Isn't this great, Karin?"

"Wonderful, another person to fight for the bathroom with." the elder of the girls replied, ever the cynic.

Ulquiorra scoffed, "Right, because it wasn't like he was living here already, and obviously that's going to be a huge change."

Karin glared at him, "Do you have any other flavor besides sarcastic?"

"Karin!" Yuzu admonished, afraid her beloved brother would take it the wrong way and go into one his emotionless modes.

Ulquiorra smiled and waved it off, "It's okay, Yuzu. I know she doesn't mean it, this is just her way of working off her excitement without seeming like she's actually excited."

Karin glared and flipped him off, "Whatever."

"Just be careful you don't say the wrong thing around my Otouto, Karin. You know how fragile a time this is."

The young soccer star looked away guiltily, "Okay, I _might_, _possibly_ feel just a _little_ excited about having a new brother, but if you bring it up, I swear I'll deny it."

Ulquiorra smirked victoriously and held up his phone, "That's fine, I recorded it."

Karin looked shell-shocked, "You _didn't_!"

Ulquiorra hit a button and the younger raven-haired youth's voice echoed through the room, repeating her never-to-be-repeated statement. He smiled, "Wanna bet?"

Karin's face turned red in anger, "Bastard! Give me that damn phone!" she said and attacked him, jumping in an attempt the get the device he held above her head.

Ulquiorra raised it each time she jumped, "Come on, work for it."

Yuzu was admirably ignoring her siblings' squabble. She turned to Ichigo, "Ichi-nii, you never answered me back about your friend."

Ichigo first had to tear his attention away from the _very _amusing spectacle of Karin jumping for Ulquiorra's phone while said pale teen held it just out of reach with an evil smirk on his face to try and remember what Yuzu was talking about. Then he remembered, "Oh! He said that vanilla is fine, he doesn't really have any preferences for icecream. I invited him to spend the night so he could have some of your famous dessert breakfast waffles sunday morning."

"That's fine. Where will he stay?"

"We haven't really talked about it yet. He has to talk to his guardian to see if he can, then he'll let me know. I figured I could pull something together, like bringing in one or two of the pallets from the clinic and camping out on the floor of my room."

"You came up with all that just now, didn't you? It's amazing how you do that."

He shrugged, "I'm the creativity of our group. Also the compassion."

Karin glared up at her tormentor, "Ulquiorra's definitely the sadism of the three of you."

Ulqui continued to smirk at her, "Did you ever consider asking nicely?"

"I did. Then I realized it was you and discarded the idea."

"I promise not to go showing it around, but you aren't going to delete it."

"I really hate you."

"Liar."

"Torturer."

"Shrimp."

"Snow demon."

Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Children, please." They both looked at him and stuck out their tongues. Ichigo smiled and quickly brought up his phone, snapping the picture before they realized what happened, "Oh, very mature. And look, I now have proof of it." he said and sent the pic.

Two ringtones played, one from the livingroom, the other from the phone in Ulquiorra's hand. The raven-haired teen looked at his screen and paled further, if possible, "Karin, you're going to want to answer that."

She rushed off to the livingroom and a screech sounded, "Ichigo!"

He ignored the shout and showed his phone to his youngest sibling, "What do you think, Yuzu?"

"It's so cute, Ichi-nii! Can I have it for my background?"

"Sure." he said and sent it off again.

Yuzu pulled her cell from her pocket and jumped up and down, "Thank you!"

Karin came back in and slumped down at the counter, "You'll pay for that one. Both of you."

"Hey guys!"

"Welcome home, Grimm-nii!" Yuzu shouted.

Ichigo got up, "I'll be right back." he said and headed for the clinic.

He knocked on the door to the room Ggio had been sleeping in, "Yeah?"

"Ggio, Grimm's home, and dinner's almost ready."

"Thanks, Ichi-nii." Ggio said as he opened the door and looked up at him, "You know, I like the sound of that: the way it rolls off my tongue."

"Well, come on, then. Let's go introduce you to the rest of the family. I'll tell you now, because he won't, that Ulquiorra is really looking forward to having someone call him Aniki. The girls usually stick with Niisan and he's happy that he finally has an otouto of his very own."

Ggio smiled, "I'll keep that in mind."

Ichigo nodded towards his cheek, "That doesn't look too bad now."

"Yeah, they never do when you take care of them. You've got some good stuff for such a small clinic."

"All thanks to Dad's connections. He's got a friend that runs the Karakura general hospital; Restu Unohana. She's a personal friend."

The tiger-teen shook his head, "You and your father and your connections."

"On the bright side, there just about nothing we can't get."

"Or get into."

"That too."

Karin waved them over when they got inside, "Hey guys, dinner's finished. Take a seat."

Everyone got settled and dinner was quiet for the first half, while everyone was too hungry to talk. When the quiet chatter of family started around him Ichigo crossed his arms and sat back in his chair, "You know, I'm not so sure about this anymore."

Ggio had a look of apprehension on his face, but Ulquiorra just glanced at him, "How so?"

"I never really thought about how weird it would be to have two of my brothers dating each other."

Ggio choked on his soda and Karin had to pound on his back to calm him down. Grimm didn't get it for a minute before a huge grin split his face, "Really, Ggio? Awesome!"

Ggio finished his coughing fit, "Yep. Ichi offered this afternoon and we decided sunday would be the best time."

Ichigo nodded, "Yeah, so we'll go this sunday and help G move all his things over here. Yuzu can supervise and Karin can delegate where it all goes."

Isshin clapped his hands, "The more the merrier!"

Ggio stood up, "Come on, girls, I'll help you clean up dinner."

"Thank you, Ggio-nii!" Yuzu enthused.

He chuckled and ruffled her hair, "No problem. It's nice to have a little sister to help. Wow, this morning I was an only child, now I'm like a member of the Japanese Brady Bunch."

Ulquiorra shook his head, "Not quite, but we're working on it. We're like the union: always looking for new members."

The others left Isshin as they went to do their homework: Grimmjow in his room, Ichigo in his, and Ulquiorra in the quiet of the clinic office where he usually did the accounting. Ichigo finished first and snuck down the stairs so he wouldn't disturb anyone. Karin and Yuzu were working on their homework in the diningroom, Ggio leaned over and helping them.

Seeing he wasn't needed, Ichigo snuck over to the entrance of the livingroom and saw his father kneeling before the picture of his mother, talking to her, surprisingly serious, "Isn't this great, Masaki? I know how much you always wanted a big family, and look, now we have another son. Ggio's going to do just fine, I know. I'm sure our other boys will protect him, and Yuzu and Karin will give him something to protect for himself, someone to take care of. You were right, you know, you always were, a little love and an open heart goes so far."

Ichigo snuck out, not wanting to intrude on his father's personal time, knowing how much it meant to him when he spoke to Masaki at her grave. He was going to finish the inventory he'd started earlier when knocking came from the front door. He looked over his shoulder, "I've got it!" he wasn't very surprised when he saw a girl with semi-long dark hair that had a hinted tint of purple held up with a red ribbon, "Hi, Senna."

The lightly tanned girl looked up at him, still in her school's brown outfit, "Hi, Ichigo."

"Ulqui's back in his office, probably doing his homework or the accounting."

"Thanks, I'll go see if I can help him."

They walked to the clinic together before she went off to find her boyfriend and he went to finish the stock. Ichigo willed his mind to lose itself in the job, though he found it harder to do than before. He couldn't help but look up at the clock, which of course only seemed to make the time drag more. His body knew it was friday night and was getting antsy. After what seemed to be forever, he had a complete accounting of all the stock and a list of what they needed to order, and it was almost midnight.

Quiet as he could be, he exited the clinic and went in the house. As expected, all the lights were off and everyone was in bed. Ulquiorra and Senna were passed out on the couch, fitting perfectly in Senna's favorite position; half on top of the pale teen with his arm around her and her head on his chest.

Up the stairs in Ichigo's room, the orange-haired teen unlocked the bottom drawer of his nightstand and pulled out a small bag. Careful to be as silent as possible, he once again crept past the sleeping couple on the couch and over to the entryway. Slipping on his shoes and making sure he had everything he needed, he slunk out into the night, locking the door behind him as he went.

The night was cool on the skin from the coming fall on the horizon, but not cold enough to need a jacket. And the run to the river was enough to keep Ichigo warm. Standing far from the bank in the shadow of a tree, where he could see clear to the other side of the river, he leaned against the tree and opened the bag he'd brought. Bringing out a rectangle pack, he plucked a cigarette from the pack and tapped it to settle the tobacco. He pulled out a lighter and breathed in the poisonous smoke as he lit it up.

Tilting his head up, he released the smoke in rings, watching them dissipate in the dim moonlight. This place always brought back the memories, thus the need for some form of relaxant lest his PTSD act up. Hours he'd lain there under the cooling body of his mother, her blood seeping through his clothes to be partially washed away in the rain.

He shook his head and noticed his cigarette was almost gone. He reached over to his left wrist and the wide leather wristband that was there and undid the buckle. It was hidden under his school uniform usually, hidden under the hidden. The leather fell away to reveal a wrist heavily scarred with tiny circles, so much that they were nearly indistinguishable from one another and the whole. Tapping the last of the ash from the butt, he harshly mashed the end to his skin among the other marks, hissing and savoring the burn on his flesh like he had the burn in his lungs from the smoke.

Crouching down, he opened a can and threw the extinguished butt inside before closing it and pulling out a small first aid kit. Carefully treating the burn so it wouldn't get infected, he then slathered it with antibiotic ointment and stuck a small patch of gauze over it. When he was done, Ichigo once again donned his wristband, closed the bag, and headed home, like every weekend.

x

**_That's it for chapter two. Until next time! _**

**_Oh, for those who were confused about Ulquiorra's seemingly random text, there was one not shown (because it was Shiro's POV) that went between him and Grimmjow about Shiro's phone volume (remember that our blue haired friend heard it before the others came out)._**


	3. Chapter 3

**_This chapter was getting too long, and it had a natural breaking point roughly around the middle that I used to divide it into two (And maybe build some suspense). Now hold on and take a breath, this is where things start to get intresting._**

It was raining. Ichigo and Grimmjow could be seen in a friendly scuffle upstairs during the afternoon, after Senna had left. Ichigo was on the bottom, his right hand mashed against Grimmjow's cheek and forcing his head to the side, while the other attempted what appeared to be a strangling of the younger male. Ichigo managed to flip himself around and sat on the teal-haired teen's back, smooshing his face into the floor with one of his arms painfully pulled up pinion style behind him. The orange-haired tormentor smile down in victory, "Give up yet?"

Grimmjow was literally saved by the bell when his phone rang. He crawled out from under Ichi and pulled out his phone, the sapphire machine playing 'white christmas' and checked his texts.

_Hey, Grimm, wha's King's ringtone fer me? -Shirosaki._

_Not a clue. call and ill c. -Grimmjow._

Shiro put the phone to his ear and listened to the muffled buzz on his end. There was a very faint ring heard through the front door. After a moment, a slightly out of breath Ichigo could be heard, "Shiro? What's up?"

"I was wondering if you were going to let me in, or leave me out here like a drowned puppy."

There was a loud dull thump that was something heavy undeniably falling over upstairs and a half muffled whisper-yelled, "Shit!" followed by what was obviously a pair of feet pounding down a set of steps. Less than ten seconds later the door was opened to show a ruffled tan teen in a red sweater, blue jeans and socks, "Sorry! We must not have heard your knock. Come in." he stepped aside and ushered the pale boy in. He hesitated for a moment before turning around, "Wait here a minute, I'll go get you a towel."

Grimm came down the stairs and gave a half-assed wave, "Yo."

"So, what was my ringtone?"

Grimmjow gave him an odd look, "Don't take it the wrong way, because I call tell you the line you think he chose it for is incorrect."

Shiro tilted his head, water dripping pathetically from his soaked locks, looking for all the world exactly like a half-drowned puppy, "Okay?"

Grimmjow's mouth thinned into a barely-there line, forcing his expression to remain stern though the albino reminded him very much of a younger and more carefree Ichigo with that look on his face. He shook his head and looked away, unwilling to give in to this stranger and trust as easily as his brother, "Your ringtone is 'Snow' by the Red Hot Chili Peppers."

Shiro tried not to look as though he'd never heard the song before, which he hadn't, and said, "Oh. I c'n see tha' happenin'."

Ichigo came back in with a fluffy black towel, "Here, Shiro. Sorry."

The pale teen took the towel and looked at Ichigo incredulously, "Lemme see if I go' this right: _yer_ sorry 'cause _I _didn' call ya sooner ta unlock th' door?"

The tan teen rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "I guess it sounds silly when you say it like that."

Shiro snorted as he started drying his hair, " 'kay then, _you _put in a way that makes it make sense."

Grimmjow grinned, "He's got ya there, Ichi."

Ichigo glared up at his brother, then looked at the floor, "Well, we don't usually keep the door locked on the weekends since we're mostly all here."

"So yer apologizing 'cause ya fergot ta unlock th' door this mornin'." he shook his head, "Baka."

Grimm looked the albino up and down appraisingly, "Why are ya all wet anyway? Don't ya own an umbrella?"

Shiro glared up at him, indignation burning in his eyes, "Tha' rain came outta nowhere! The forecas' said it'd be _nice_ weather t'day!"

"Yeah, ya get that around here. We have a history of flashflooding. It's almost a given that everyone take their umbrella with them during this time of year."

"Also, the weatherman couldn't tell it's raining if you held his ass underwater." Ichigo added.

Shiro cackled while Grimmjow grinned, "That too."

Ichigo led the way to the livingroom after Shiro was suitably dry. The pale teen flopped down in one of the two armchairs, "Sorry if I'm too early."

The strawberry-haired teen shook his head, "Not at all. Actually, you're just about on time. This is typical for us; we usually have an early dinner on saturdays, then we'll head off to the tourney if there is one or spar together in the dojo up the street if there isn't, and come home later in the night for a midnight dessert. Karin and Yuzu love it because it's the only night of the week that they get to stay up so late."

"So what happens?"

"I suspect we'll be called to dinner sometime in the next half-hour, try not to stuff yourself, then we'll meet with the others at the Vizards' place." Grimmjow said.

Ichigo scoffed, "Oh, you're one to talk, Grimm. Remember just the month before last? You painted the floor a lovely vomit color when Ikkaku hit you in the stomach."

"Ehgh, don't remind me. That's why I was warning him, it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience."

Shiro's voice was calm, "I think I can control myself."

Grimm smiled condescendingly, "You think that now, but you haven't tasted Yuzu's cooking yet."

The pale teen was about to reply when Karin stuck her head in the room, "Dinner's ready!"

Karin really had a set of lungs on her when she wanted, and her shout brought everyone out of their hiding places. Shiro was and wasn't surprised to see the tiger-teen, Ggio, come down the stairs and sit at the table. A man with short raven hair came from somewhere past the livingroom and stood in front of Shiro, and it wasn't lost on the albino that Ichigo was giving the man a glare that could melt glass, "Hello! My name is Isshin Kurosaki and you must be my beautiful son's new friend!"

Shiro saw Ichigo slap his hand to his forehead with a look of suffering and smiled at the taller male, "Yep! Hichigo Shirosaki, sir. He really is somethin' t' look at, ain't he?"

Ichigo flushed a brilliant crimson and looked like he wanted nothing more than for the floor to swallow him whole. Isshin shook his one hand in both of his, "YES! SOMEONE WHO APPRECIATES MY SON FOR THE LOVELY SOUL HE IS!"

Shiro was certain he heard the berry-haired teen mumble something like, "Please, god, kill me now." before he cleared his throat, "Dad, as happy as I'm sure Shiro is to meet you, dinner's going to get cold if we don't hurry, which will then make us late later on."

Shiro snickered as he sat next to Ichigo at the table, "Wow, he's really somethin', ain't he?"

The orangette sighed, "Believe me, you have no idea. This was him on his best behavior."

Ichigo passed the snickering boy the dishes as they came to him, sometimes taking some of the offered food from the dish before passing it on. When everyone was plated, they bowed their heads, "Itadakimasu!"

Shiro took a bite of his dinner and looked up in surprise, "Wow, this 's great! Thanks, Yuzu-chan."

Yuzu blushed and waved off the praise, "Oh, thank you, Shirosaki-san! I love cooking, and it's so great that everyone likes it so much."

Ichigo nodded, "Yuzu gets more thanks and praise for her food than she has food to be praised. She's one of the best cooks around. Ggio's absolutely determined to learn everything from her. He's positive that under her tutelage he'll be able to get a scholarship to culinary school."

The tiger-teen's tats became camouflaged in his blush, "ICHI! You don't need to go sharing my hopes and dreams, you know!"

"Why? Nearly everyone knows how much you love to cook."

The tan raven blushed harder, "I still have a long ways to go before I'm even as good as Yuzu. There's no need to go spreading around my desire to go to culinary school."

Ichigo leaned closer to Shiro and spoke in a stage whisper, "Don't believe him, he had a hand in everything on the table. Even Yuzu says he's as good as her, though he always refutes it."

Ggio glared, "Are you done torturing me, yet? How about we talk about your eventual plans to become a therapist?"

Ichigo glared back, "Shut _up_, Kitty."

"_Make_ me, Berry."

Shiro tensed and waited for Ichigo to launch across the table at the saber-tooth teen, but they both continued to glare. Shiro could have sworn that he saw sparks and lightning flash as the two pairs of eyes remained locked. Ichigo finally looked away, not as though he were giving up in the minor male dominance fight, but as if the other was so inconsequential that he didn't pose a threat and wasn't worth the effort to eye-fight. He looked over to the albino, "Ignore him. I don't have any plans to go into the psychiatry field. It's not really what I want to do, let alone what I'm suited for."

"That's a lie, Ichigo, and you know it." Ggio stated, "He does want to help people get over their problems, and he's good with advice and stuff, but he doesn't think he can do it, too afraid to mess up."

The pallid male watched the verbal spar while the rest of the people at the table ate like the two combatants weren't even there, chatting softly with one another or munching on the delicious food. Willingly risking life and limb, Shiro ventured his opinion, "Guess that makes two of you, huh?"

Everyone at the table quieted and looked at him, Ichigo and Ggio with shock, the others with something akin to worship. Ggio turned away with a sniff, "Oh, just shut up."

Ichigo stared at his plate with a blush on his cheeks, "Yeah, what do you know anyway?" he said and picked at his food.

Karin sighed, "You have no idea how long we've been trying to drill that into their thick skulls. Finally, someone they'll listen to."

The berry-haired boy beside him coughed, "Um, if we're done, we should get going. Don't want to keep the others waiting."

Shiro nodded, "Yeah, that sounds good."

Ichigo flashed him a grateful look that caused his heart to beat faster and stood up, "I'll be just a minute, I need to get something." he said and raced upstairs.

Isshin stood and helped Karin and Yuzu clean the table off while Grimmjow, Ggio, and Ulquiorra went to get their shoes on. Shiro's berry-head came back down a few moments later with several gym bags on his shoulder. The albino went to follow him to the door when he froze midstep. _Wait a minute, I didn't just think that, did I? _He shook his head. _Definitely not. I've only known him half a week!_

"Shiro? Are you coming?"

The albino rubbed the back of his head when he realized he'd spent five minutes frozen and staring off into space, "Er, yea. Jus' a little excited an' wonderin' wha' sorta fun I'll have."

Grimmjow rolled his shoulder towards the door, "Well, come on, then. The quicker we get there, the sooner you'll find out."

It had stopped raining almost as soon as it had begun, and the night was bight with stars and the full moon. It was a twenty minute walk to get to the warehouse district, and Shiro could see the draw of such a place if a person were going to do much of anything in the underground. He ogled his surroundings like a tourist, "So, what do the Vizards do with all the open space?"

Ichigo motioned for him to walk next to him, "Like I said, the Vizards are pretty much as neutral as it gets. They stay to the more borderline illicit activities. Odd shipments of things, odd or hard to come-by pets. Underground fashion, some of the more tame weapons' dealings and stuff along those lines."

"What about the other groups?" he asked quietly, somehow feeling that speaking in anything but a whisper was a bad idea.

"The Soul Reapers deal more along the darker part of the sunny side of things. Working around the law and such. Byakuya is a businessman and the head of several large corporations. The Hollows are definitely more to the darker side of things in the rougher part of town: drugs, bodies; both willing and not, anything that can get them money, which is just about anything."

"So the Soul Reapers are the good guys, the Hollows are the bad guys and the Vizards just are?"

The orange-haired teen shook his head, "Not at all. The way they live doesn't tell you anything about what they're like as individuals or even as a whole. I didn't mean to give you that impression. It's all about location. The warehouse district has lots of places to hide things, and direct access to the port, so it's easy to move sundries and local miscellaneous items. The Soul Reapers operate on and around the up-and-up because that's how Byakuya runs them; he doesn't want them falling into the vast corruption that they were vulnerable to before when Yamamoto led them. Out in the slums and even as far in as two blocks over from my house, anything and everything has a blackmarket value, and the Hollows make use of that fact. It wouldn't be an understatement to say that it's survival of the fittest in that area."

"What about the Arrancars?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what else is there for them? You got everyone else selling everything under the sun, from financial advice to guns and drugs to people and animals; what's left?"

Ichigo seemed to hesitate and turned to face ahead, "Uh, well..."

"Jus' tell me, Ichi, I promise I won't judge 'em or nothin'."

He looked at the ground, "Information. Information...and lives."

"Lives? Like...like a hit?"

"Like a hit."

"Oh."

"The underground is split into different quadrants, the different areas. The one the Soul Reapers control is Seireitei. The Vizards made it somewhat of a joke, what with their location, and named it the World of the Living. The slums, that bad area I told you about, is actually split into two different areas; Hueco Mundo, where the Hollows reside; and Las Noches, the home of the Arrancar."

Shiro noticed that Ichigo seemed to like talking about the underground, the Arrancar and Soul Reapers and Vizards the most. He noticed though that he seemed dead set against even mentioning the Bounts, and he decided skirting the subject was the wisest course of action, "You seem slightly reluctant to talk about the Hollows."

Ichigo clenched his hands, "I try, very hard, not to judge people based on who they hang with or anything other than what I see myself. But, for so long, I hated all Hollows, and I guess that's just a little hard to get over. The Soul Reapers and Hollows are in the middle of a very uneasy ceasefire at the moment, the matches rather tame considering the stakes. And I guess I'll always be a Soul Reaper in that I just can't trust the Hollows. I know one or two that I consider friends, but as a whole..."

"Sounds like they ain't too trustworthy on the whole."

"I guess it does, but my reasons are...rather more personal than that." he shook his head, "Besides, not all Hollows can be bad, because the Arrancars first evolved from them when they split off."

"But yer heart is tellin' ya that all the good ones already left." Shiro guessed the unspoken worry in the other's head.

Ichigo sighed, "That's it exactly. When I was eight, my mother was attacked and killed by Hollows."

Shiro stared at him in shock, he'd known that Ichigo's mom had died, but he hadn't known she'd been killed. He watched the other boy closely, "Sorry."

The orangette shook his head, "Not your fault. It's just..." he stopped for a moment and clenched his hands until his knuckles turned white, "I want to hate them all _so much,_ even though I know it's wrong."

Shiro was at a loss for words at the darkness in those two words the berry-haired teen had uttered. He was now, officially, out of his depth, "Everyone would. You can hate whoever you want to, King. Everyone can hate who they want to, wrong or not, reasons or not, everyone does and I don't see that changing anytime soon."

Ichigo shook his head, "I'm not like everyone else in looks, why should I allow the hive mind to suck me down into that vortex of hatred? Logically, I know that they aren't all bad, and I can control it most of the time. But in my heart, they will always be my enemy, even in a truce-time."

"Well, there's a reason it's called 'truce', instead of 'peace'."

The tan teen looked up thoughtfully, "You know, I actually didn't think about it that way."

"Maybe you're thinking of them as enemies because they _are_ enemies."

They came to a stop outside of a large warehouse. It was huge and light gray in the strong moonlight, the ocean breeze blew in towards them from the port a hundred meters out. There was a large empty area around the warehouse, cement glowing pale in the night like it was lit from within. Ichigo stopped them and turned to fully face Shiro, "When we go in, we'll be escorted into rooms to change into our clothes, since walking down the street in them in this neighborhood would be seen as a declaration of war because we're not on home turf. I have an outfit here that should fit you, something Yumichika just _had _to design and make for me, which might I add I never wanted, and have never worn." he held out one of the only two gym bags he had, the others being held by everyone else. He then pulled something from his pocket, "And it would make everything alot easier if you wore this."

Shiro took the crescent moon pendant that hung on a strong, thin gold chain. The pendant was a black crescent moon that faded to deepest crimson at the edges, the whole thing about the size of his palm. He held it up to catch the moonlight and twisted it back and forth to watch the light glint off of it. He looked over to see Ichigo fidgeting nervously, "King."

"Yeah?"

"This is bitchin'. You ain't gotta worry abou' me wearin' it." he saw the orangette relax, "It's gettin' it back that you'll 'ave a problem with."

The tan teen looked away, the red dusting his cheeks barely visible in the light, "Oh, uh, that's not a problem. You can have it."

Shiro smiled widely, "I'll hold ya to that, ya know."

Ichigo shifted from foot to foot nervously, the motion seeming to go unnoticed by their companions. He coughed and regained his composure, "There are several rules you'll need to adhere to in there. Those people in there don't know our names, and it should stay that way. With us all being Arrancar, the fewer people that know us, the better. Going in the way we will, you'll automatically be associated with us, whether or not you decide you dislike this and never come back. So, obviously, we can't have them learning your name either."

"I c'n see all that pretty well. So, wha'cha gonna call me, an' wha' should I call you?"

"I'm Zangetsu. I think we should call you Engetsu. Keep your phone with you at all times and if you need anything at all, text one of us."

" 'Kay."

Ichigo knocked on the door of the warehouse in a pattern that eluded Shiro, and it opened to reveal a two tall men, both topping even Grimmjow by an inch or two. One of them, with short silver hair and a white open jacket with nothing under it, a large '69' tattoo on his torso, held out his hand and Shiro noticed the white fingerless gloves, "Ichigo."

The orangette took it without hesitation and smiled, "Good evening, Kensei."

The taller male turned to look over his shoulder, "Hiyori! Mark it, Zangetsu's here!" he turned back to them and pulled his hand back, "Welcome and relax in the battles to come."

Ichigo nodded and, as he passed Shiro, whispered just loud enough to be heard by the albino alone, "The traditional greeting."

Shiro followed close behind Ichigo as they passed the second man, a man with large sunglasses and a huge afro, who nodded at them, "Zangetsu."

Ichigo nodded in return, but remained silent. The pale teen watched the way the orange-head acted, the way he seemed to relax and straighten. Like he wasn't truly comfortable until he walked through the door to the warehouse. It wasn't long until they came to the dressing rooms, the others following closely behind.

Shiro was shown to one room and closed the door behind him, opening the gym bag to see what he would wear. He shook his head when he saw white. _I'm gonna look like a fuckin' ghost. Ah, well, nothin' for it._

He was surprised how well the clothes fit him, like they were made just for him. Then again, given how similar he and Ichigo were in body shape, maybe it shouldn't. He was also pleasantly surprised at how well the clothes _suited_ him, if he were given a chance to design an outfit, and had any artistic capability at all-which he didn't-this is what he would have chosen. It seemed to be a variation of the Shihakusho he'd seen on what he assumed to be Soul Reapers on the way in, slightly tighter, rougher, yet more stream-lined in look, with an overcoat. Quite simply; he loved it! The red and black sash prevented it from being _too _white, and drew the eye up to the crescent pendant that hung just under his collarbone, encouraging one to look even higher to meet his eyes.

Shiro spun around to get a good look at himself in the mirror and couldn't help but think he looked less like a ghost and more like a fallen angel. He smirked at that thought. _Nah, more like evicted angel._

He grabbed his bag and exited the room to see Ichigo, still in his civilian clothes, waiting alone for him. The orangette made a small twirling motion with his finger and Shiro complied, spinning around to show off. He hated to admit it, but this was the nicest set of clothes he'd ever worn, and he couldn't help but preen.

"Well, what do you think?"

The albino cocked his head, smirk present, "Shouldn't that be my line?"

"I'm not the one that has to wear it; you are. So your opinion is the one that matters."

Shiro smiled hugely, "It's sweet! I don't know who this Yumi guy is, but he's got good taste."

Ichigo chuckled warmly, "Vain peacock that he is, he'd love to know you think that. And if it matters at all, I think you look great."

The pale teen looked down, color dusting his cheeks, "Uh, thanks." he looked around for the others, "So where's everyone else?"

He nodded toward the other rooms, "It takes a little more effort for an Arrancar to get ready, for rather obvious reasons."

The other cocked his head, "How so?"

"You'll see in a few minutes."

Ggio was the first one to come out of his room, a conservative white outfit on, otherwise looking the same as usual. It had only taken him a few moments longer than Shiro to come out. The tiger-teen glanced at Ichigo, "You can go get ready now that I'm here to keep watch."

Ichigo smiled, "I know. I just want to see his expression when he first lays eyes on Arrancar Grimmjow."

Ggio smiled as well, "It's something to see." he agreed.

This, of course, got Shiro even more curious. He started shifting from foot to foot, too excited to stand still. He whipped around when he heard the door behind him open, and staggered back a step at what he saw, "Oh, _fuck_."

There stood all six-foot four-inches of Grimmjow, semi-loose white pants like his own and a light white jacket with cutoff sleeves, and a huge fucking piece of some big-assed predator's jaw on the right side of his own, a maniacal smile on his face.

Grimmjow noticed his gaping, "What'cha lookin' at, Shirosaki?~" he sing-song crooned.

Ichigo walked past him, "_That's_ why it takes longer for an Arrancar to change." he said as he went in his own dressing room.

Shiro wanted nothing more than to reach up and see how the hell Grimmjow kept that thing on his face. There was no way he was using the same adhesive that girls used for those little body jewels they sometimes donned. His fingers were actually itching to do it. Ggio noticed it because of the twitching of said appendages and smiled, "Not without the releasing agent, Shiro. I can assure you it's not coming off otherwise."

Shiro looked away and refused to blush, "I've no idea wha' yer talking about."

"Uh-huh, sure you don't."

Grimmjow twitched from foot to foot, "I'm going to go show 'im around, you know; give him the tour."

Ggio looked up once then did something Shiro had never seen the raven do before; he dismissed his blue-haired lover with a flick of the wrist that indicated he could care less, "Whatever, but I'm not saving your ass if he comes out and finds Engetsu gone."

It took about two seconds to figure out they were talking about him before he was being dragged off by the arm by the blue-eyed behemoth. Grimmjow pulled him along the wall and pointed out things as they passed by, even, correction; _mostly_ things hidden behind what appeared to be halls made from large containers, the kind seen on freight ships. He assumed that they were being cautious and staying fairly close to the dressing rooms, because he knew for a fact that the warehouse must be at least six times bigger than the area they explored.

"The cages are behind here."

"For cage fights?"

"Bingo." he was pulled along, "They serve food in those two containers, constantly monitored closely by Vizards to ensure no one does anything to the food besides eat it."

Grimmjow was about to drag him off again when a shrill whistle split the air, "Pantera!" Shiro was glad when the blue menace stopped and looked around, he was really getting ticked off from being dragged around like an unresponsive dog. A female was jumping up and down and waving an arm in the air, the other by her mouth to amplify her voice, "Pantera!"

Shiro saw his tormentor spot the girl and grin while waving her over, "Heya!"

Knowing that they'd wait for her, the girl made her way over at a steady unrushed pace. Her skin was a light mocha color and her hair was a deep chestnut. She was too far away for him to make out her eye color, but her hair was something else: long enough to reach her neck, it swept around to frame her face perfectly, the back sweeping out at nape-length rather than laying flat, but styled on top of her head so that it looked like she had cat ears the same color as her hair. She was wearing pastel pink, extremely _tight_ tights that cutoff halfway between her knees and ankles, a same-colored strapless top that only covered her breasts and half of her stomach, that had a strip of something white and fluffy at the collar all the way around.

She stopped in front of them and smiled up at Grimmjow, Shiro took note of how long and sharp her canines were; almost fangs, "It's been like forever!"

"Don't look at me; I'm not the one that's been out."

She frowned, "Don't _I_ know it? But a job's a job."

"I take it you were successful?"

She scoffed, "Don't insult me, Pantera. Aren't I always?"

Grimmjow smirked, "Almost always."

She huffed, "You're going to hold that over me forever, aren't you?"

"Of course." Grimmjow was about to say something else when his phone went off and he looked at it, "Crap, I have a situation. Hey, watch the newbie for me." he said and turned around, quickly disappearing into the crowd.

Shiro watched him in disbelief that swiftly changed to anger, "Damn you, Pantera!" he growled out, remembering not to call Grimmjow by his real name. He looked back to the woman warily, "An' you are?"

Her gaze was glued to the pendant that rested against his chest and he shifted uncomfortably, grabbing the crescent moon. She looked him up and down for a moment, "You're with Ichigo, huh?" she asked quietly.

Shiro tensed, not getting how she knew the berry-haired teen's name. He clenched the pendant tighter, "I don' know wha' yer talkin' about." he ground out stiffly.

She noticed his tension and held her wrists out so he noticed the barely off-white wrist guards on them, "It's okay, you can trust me. See? Pure ivory. Chosen for me by Cero himself."

He glanced at her warily, "Wha'?"

"Here, I think proper introductions are in order." she turned around and crouched down, because she was a freaking _amazon _in those heels, and lifted her hair even further up; revealing a black gothic '7' on the nape of her neck. She stood up and faced him again, holding out her hand, "Septima Espada, Haineko, at your service."

He held his out and clasped hers like he'd seen Ichigo do with Kensei at the door, "Tagalong Hichigo Shirosaki, Shiro, at yours."

She smiled, "Now that that's out of the way, you can call me Growl."

"Engetsu." he replied and withdrew his hand.

She nodded, "I can see that. It was the pendant that gave it away, your alliance. Zangetsu's mark. You'll get one yourself if you decide to stick around after tonight."

"Well I don't really know what the place has to offer. Gr-er, Pantera, sort of kidnapped from by the dressing rooms."

"It's okay, I know Grimmjow very well. I'm actually very close friends with the Kurosaki's. I train Karin and Yuzu in fighting when I get the chance. Odelschwanck-sama is actually putting up both me and Tier at the moment, or, well, she would have if we'd been in town for the last month."

"Wow, that name's a mouthful."

"Yes, well, you can tell it's genetic, what with Nel's full name."

"I jus' got confused."

"Nel's full name is Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck."

"Ah, yer stayin' wit' Nel's mom."

"Yeah, she said she was lonely with only her and Verde there, and Teir and I needed a place to stay, so she offered us her's."

" 'Kay, 'm gettin' there. Now who's Tier?"

"That would be Tier Hallibel, Tercera Espada. Most people find her name hard to pronounce, so she usually just goes by Tia. Around here she's Tiburon, like I'm Growl."

"Ya know, yer pretty good at explainin' things."

"In that case, would you like me to show you around?"

"Tha' would be helpful, Grimmjow ain't 'xactly the best tourguide around."

"What awful things that would say about tourguides in general if he were." she chuckled.

Shiro laughed with her, "Definit'ly."

"You should text Ichi and let him know what's happened and that you didn't really get kidnapped."

He nodded, "Good idea." he grabbed his phone.

_Don' kill Grimm. He snatched me ta show me aroun' and left me 'ere wit' Growl to go deal with somethin'. She's gonna show me around. -Shiro._

It was about ten seconds before the girl's phone rang and she pulled it out to look it over. She typed a reply and flipped it shut, putting it away he knew not where. It didn't seem to him there was enough room in her outfit for the thing. She looked over at him, "Apparently it's okay for me to steal you, so long as I have you over by the sands an hour from now. I think you're in for a treat, too, if you haven't seen Zangetsu in his Arrancar outfit."

He nodded, looking forward to it, "So, what's around here and are there anymore rules I'm gonna haf'ta follow?"

She started walking them through the huge containers without a problem or pause; obviously she knew this mouse maze quite well. They finally came to the end of the container corridors and stepped out into bright white light, very different from the dim, reddish light they'd been in. Shiro saw rope ladders going up the sides of the containers and several people were walking on the tops of them. Haineko stretched and looked around, "The only ones here right now are us and the Soul Reapers, and the Vizards, obviously, this being their ground and all. The Hollows won't be here for another hour and a half I'd guess."

"What about the Bounts?"

"The Bounts aren't welcome at this meet after what happened the last time. The invitation may be extended again, and soon if I know anything; Shinji isn't liking the lack of product movement without them here, but he will have order in his house. So as you just saw, the first quarter of the warehouse is basically a bazaar with food and all sorts of items. It brings in a good deal of money for them, another reason for them to play host to us all. That's the thing about Vizards, always an ulterior motive, the only exceptions to that are Shinji, Hiyori, and Kensei, possibly Hachi as well; he really can't walk away when someone needs his help. Even with them, though, there are reasons. Shinji and Zangetsu have this really close work relationship and Shinji owes him big time for some help we gave him. Hiyori is the Arrancar-Vizard contact, she's the handler; anything that goes on with a request that comes through here goes through Hiyori first; except for that whole Shinji-Zangetsu thing I just explained."

"So what happened las' time th' Bounts were invited?"

"They attacked outside of the sands; fought people that didn't want to. It was an ambush. Shinji was _pissed_. It nearly turned into an outright blood-battle right there, but things managed to settle down and Shinji told them not to come back again until he expressly, personally, invited them. Haven't seem 'em since. 'Course, that may not necessarily be a good thing: keeping your enemies close and all that."

They stopped at the edge of a -well, there was no other word for it but 'sandbox'- indented sanded pit. Shiro looked at it, "Wha's this?" he asked, also taking note of the welded steel girder structure all around this entire part of the warehouse, assumedly used for seating judging by the people perched on it.

"One of the three types of battle arena. This is the most commonly chosen one, called 'The sands', if you couldn't guess. They're small areas cut out in the cement and filled with sand, not much, only about three inches. It's not really enough to impede movement, but it softens falls and such. Traction is a bit of a problem, and it's very possible to potentially kill your opponent by suffocation. This is usually used by those lower in the ranks and those that like to fight dirty by throwing sand in their opponent's eyes. I should also let you know that saying 'outside of the sands' applies to any of the fighting rings.

"One of the worst things a person can do is attack someone else outside of the quads. It's lower than low, an insult saying that the person attacked isn't worth the notoriety of walking over to one of the rings for others to watch. It's one way of saying that someone's so weak that it'd be a waste of time to drag them all the way over for an official match because there's no way they'll win: a waste of everybody's time and attention.

"And that's a hot-headed fight, not a sucker-shot. That's another thing you just don't do here. It's cowardly and pathetic. Sucker-shots are a good reason for an out-ring beating, assuming there's an appropriately strong witness or the victim is in good enough shape."

"Growl!"

They both turned to see a petite girl with huge violet eyes waving at them. Shiro smiled, "Rukia!"

She ran over and whispered, "Hi, Shiro. What's your name?"

"Engetsu."

She pulled out her cellphone and her fingers flew across the buttons. She flipped it closed with a satisfied expression, "There, now everyone knows your name and can get your attention when they see you. Not everybody could be lucky enough to know the name of the random person you're with."

Shiro looked up at Haineko, "So you know Rukia?"

The cat-girl frowned, "Not _well_, but yes, we've met a time or twelve. I usually do my best to avoid Soul Reapers in general."

"Why's that?"

"Because my sister's one. Lieutenant Matsumoto. We...don't see eye-to-eye, on much of anything. That's something you'll see alot of here, family feuds played out in the quads, relatives that didn't agree and joined opposing sides."

Sensing the tender subject, Shiro switched tracks, "So Rukia, where's Renji?"

"He's my brother's Lieutenant. So probably with him."

"No way, Renji's that strong?"

She nodded, "Yep."

Haineko tugged on the albino's sleeve, "Oh! Look! There's an Espada in the quad, let's go look."

Rukia nodded and ran after them, watching someone that appeared to be a ninja land in the middle of the roped-off square, "Who is it?"

Haineko ignored them to cheer on her team-mate, "Go, Akai! Get 'im!"

Rukia tried to jump up to see who else was in the ring, but was unable to do so because of her height, or lack-there-of. She sighed, "I'm going to watch from the beams."

Shiro had to admit he was interested in watching a good fight from such a promising perspective and nodded, "I'll go with ya."

There were handholds in the form of half-circles of steel welded to the vertical beams so people could climb. The horizontal ones also had the same holds on the bottoms and sides, presumably to keep one from falling off.

They could see right over the crowd and into the roped-off area, into the ring. They both seemed to be waiting for something. Shiro started when Haineko was suddenly right beside him, "They're waiting for the word to spread about the match. It isn't often such a promising fight comes around."

"Wha' dya mean?"

"That's Lieutenant Madarame down there." Rukia answered.

Haineko nodded, "Ikkaku. It's not often an Espada and a Lieutenant go at it. Ikkaku is Lieutenant of Squad Eleven, the power squad. But I think he's underestimating Noba. Noba excels in using his opponent's strength against him, he moves like water. He could very well massacre half a squad if he were so inclined. Fortunately, Noba's a man of few words and great inner strength and self-assurance. I have lots of respect for you, Rukia, but Ikkaku's not going to win."

"I can't see a damn thin' about 'im 'cept that blue suit o' 'is. Wha's 'is number an' where's 'is bone?"

"You'll see in a few minutes. All Espada are required to show respect to opponents of equal rank to them; that would be Soul Reapers Lieutenant and above, all Vizards, all Hollows of Adjucha level or higher, and all Bounts with the Doll rank.

"You'll notice that this is a standard quad, four poles roped off around a blank area of concrete. This is where the real fighters go. When you fall, you take the pain and pick your ass back up. The last arena is the cages. A cage fight is a free-for-all, anything goes, winner-take-all deathmatch; no rules to speak of. Two people enter the cage, one person leaves, and that's at the most. A cage match goes until one of the fighters is unconscious or dead, usually the latter, because it's up to the winner."

The bald Lieutenant, Ikkaku, stretched up away from the pole he'd been leaning on, "Let's get this started already, I'm getting bored." his opponent merely nodded. Ikkaku quickly stripped out of the top half of his Shihakusho and tossed it over the pole to hold it and started stretching out his muscles.

The mystery man, Noba, reached up and pulled off the top half of his hood, revealing hair red enough to give Renji a run for his money and wild enough to put even Ichigo and Shiro to shame. He had one golden crescent moon earring dangling from his right ear that glinted in the light. Continuing his disrobing, the sleeves coming off from just above his elbows, showing his arms from his fingerless blue gloves to where the remaining short sleeves hid them, revealing slightly off-white ridges on his arms.

"Oh, shit. Those look painful." Shiro muttered as he saw the bone wrapped around the red-head's forearms almost like stripes, from elbow to wrist, six on each arm, looking almost like a ribcage with the spine on top, and appeared to have an odd texture.

"They do. The scaled stripes. Those are like having a dozen little swords on your arms, they were specially made for him. One nice swipe and his opponent is on the floor bleeding and missing a good chunk of skin."

"An' 'is number?"

"Wait for it."

The bald man stepped forward, "I, Ikkaku Madarame, Lieutenant of Squad Eleven, challenge you." he declared, pointing at his opponent for emphasis.

The red-head reached up and pulled down the lower half of his mask, revealing a black gothic '2' marring the lightly tan skin on his left cheek, "I, Akai-tenshi, Segunda Espada, accept your challenge."

x

**_Annnd cliffhanger._**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Sorry for the wait. Special thanks to Mer-mer and Blankheart1234 for being the first and for wonderfully excessive praise of my humble fic, it's reviews like yours that make writing worthwhile. And to all my other reviewers, thank you so much. Now, on with the much-anticipated fourth chapter!**_

* * *

Shiro watched as Ikkaku launched at Noba as soon as the words left the red-head's mouth. He heard Haineko scoff beside him, "Tch, baka."

With a smooth roll of position, a step and twist to Ikkaku's left, the shirtless male went right past Noba as if the ninja hadn't ever occupied the spot. The bald man didn't get more than two feet before he stopped himself and about-faced with a glare, lashing out with a punch to Noba's head.

Immediately, the red-head dropped to the floor on his hands and struck out with both feet towards Ikkaku's chest, landing a harsh blow to his solar plexus. The half-naked male went sliding back into the ropes, hand flat to his chest, "Ugh! Heh, that's quite a kick you pack."

The ninja was already back on his feet, silent as ever. Ikkaku launched a series of punches at the red-head, keeping his arms closer to prevent a repeat of earlier, forcing Noba to back up a step each time in order to dodge.

It wasn't long before the blue-suited male was nearly flush with the ropes. Haineko leaned forward precariously and Shiro shot out a hand to keep her from toppling into the crowd below, "He's going for a ring out!" she gasped.

Shiro watched as Ikkaku corralled the ninja towards one of the corner poles, "What?"

Haineko never took her eyes from the fight, "If you're forced out of the quad, it's no contest; you lose."

Shiro watched the footwork of the combatants below, his eyes narrowed when he saw how precisely Noba was matching his opponent's moves, "No, he can't want to go closer, could he?" the pale teen whispered to himself. He'd seen that drop earlier, and the twist-dodge before that, the only way the red-head was going towards the ropes was because he wanted to.

Ikkaku grinned when he'd backed the ninja into the corner, "Where you gonna dodge to now?"

Haineko once again nearly took a header into the people below them when the red-head grabbed the ropes, "Is he really going to surrender?"

Not waiting for his adversary to make a move, Ikkaku aimed a power-packed kick at his opponent. Jaws dropped all around when the blue-suited male flipped up in the air on the ropes. He stayed balanced like that, his entire body vertical, held up by the strength of his arms on the rope, for what seemed several minutes. Even Ikkaku seemed too shocked to move for a moment. It was his mistake.

Noba took advantage of the bald male's distraction and close proximity, letting his body tilt and fall back the way it had come, landing directly behind the frozen man. This seemed to snap the Lieutenant out of his daze and he started to turn around, but not before a swift kick to the back of his legs took him to his knees. In a move almost too quick to see, the blue ninja had the bald male in a choker hold and wrapped his legs around Ikkaku's as he fell backwards, dragging the Soul Reaper's upper body back with him.

Blue-sheathed legs were around the still-folded knees of the Soul Reaper, preventing him from using them or flipping over; and it looked rather painful to boot. They were both laid out with Noba on the bottom but obviously the one in control with his arm locked across Ikkaku's trachea and applying pressure. The bald man was ineffectually clawing at the arm around his throat, but pure arm strength wasn't going to cut it and he had no leverage in a full body-lock.

The red-head looked at the male struggling to get breath in his arms and spoke for the first time since the start of the match, "Submit."

It took several seconds more of useless struggle before the bald man went limp and raised his left hand up in the air, thumb up, "You win!" he rasped out through his abused airway. Instantaneously, the Espada released his grip on the Soul Reaper and Ikkaku sucked in huge gasping breaths.

In a matter of moments, Noba was standing to the cheers and jeers of all those surrounding the quad. Ignoring it all, he leaned over the still-gasping Ikkaku and held out his hand, "Feelings?"

With a surprising smile, the bald male clasped hands and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet, "No hard ones. Good match."

Noba nodded and retreated to his corner. He pulled the lower half of his mask back up and carefully rewrapped his forearms, but left the top half of his mask down, leaving his wild-fire hair free.

Shiro winced when Haineko cupped her hands over her mouth and looked up, "Quick drop!"

He was completely clueless as people below moved and a chain dropped down from somewhere above the beam they were sitting on. Then Rukia stood up and jumped into the open air, grabbing the chain and sliding down to the ground. Shiro stared after her with wide eyes, "Wha' th' hell?"

Haineko stood as well, "It's the fastest way to get down; call up for one of the tenders to throw down a chain. It'd take far too long, and be way too risky, for everyone to try to go down the holds at the end of a fight, not to mention the problem or risk of getting past other people on a beam to get to the hand-holds. So when you want to go down, just call up for a quick drop. Now, are you coming?" she hopped out and grabbed the chain, swinging back and forth abit as she slid down.

"Tch, 'course I'm commin'." he took a deep breath and held it as he stood up and jumped for the chain, _so _very grateful when he felt his hands close over cool metal. He slid down and joined Haineko and Rukia on the ground, steadfastly ignoring the quivering of his spine, unnoticeable to others.

Haineko tilted her head, "Was that your first time?"

He nodded and Rukia threw him a shocked and admiring look, "Well, I'll be. I can't believe you jumped for it on your first time. You could have reached for it, you know."

"I never run away."

Haineko smiled, "I can see why you and Zangetsu get along so well. Come on, let's go meet Noba." she led them over to the far side of the quad, where said red-head was leaning against one of the supporting beams, his hair making the red girder he was leaning against look dull and rust-colored in comparison. Haineko cocked her hip as they stopped by the ninja, "Hey, Noba."

He nodded at her, "Haineko. Rukia."

"Shiro, this is Noba, Segunda Espada. Noba, this is Hichigo Shirosaki, Shiro, Ichigo's tagalong."

The red-head's blue eyes zeroed in on the crescent pendant Shiro wore. Haineko stiffened next to him when Noba held his hand out, "Akai-tenshi."

Shiro clasped hands with him, "Engetsu."

They turned as someone approached them, "Thanks for the fight, it was great."

The albino looked over at the bald male, "Yer Ikkaku, righ'? Th' one tha' managed t' get Pantera t' paint th' floor wit' a well-placed stomach hit?"

"Ha! That's me. You must be Engetsu. Rukia told me about you."

The pale teen raised a brow at that, "Oh? An' jus' wha' did our lil' Rukia say abou' me?"

"You're a good, though new, friend of Zangetsu's, and that this is your first time here. And that Ichigo likes and trusts you maybe more than he should."

Haineko scoffed, "Big words coming from someone that tried to kill him during their first meeting."

"Hey, as of that moment, he was my enemy. Come on, though, he tends to have that effect on everyone, doesn't he? Turning enemies into friends?"

"Baldy!"

Shiro saw a tic appear at Ikkaku's forehead and he spun away, "Yachiru! What did I tell you about calling people names?"

The albino looked down to see a little girl with pink hair smiling up and the Soul Reaper, "Yo, who's th' shrimp?"

Ikkaku sighed and leaned down to pick the little girl up, perching her on his hip, "This is Yachiru, my Captain's daughter."

The little girl looked up at Shiro with huge red-tinted brown eyes, "Who are you?" she asked in a high-pitched voice.

"Engetsu."

She looked up at her carrier, "He looks like Zanny."

Shiro blinked and looked over at Haineko, she smiled sheepishly at him and rubbed the back of her head, "Yachiru is the daughter of Captain Zaraki of squad eleven, and Captain Unohana of squad four. She's absolutely determined to become Lieutenant of her father's squad when she gets bigger." she looked down at the girl, "Yachiru, where are your friends?"

"With Daddy."

The cat-girl sighed and pulled out her phone. After a minute or two, she put it away and looked at them, "Captain Zaraki is busy. However, Gamuza is on the way, so we'll stick it here for a few minutes." she turned to Shiro, "So, how did you like watching the second strongest Espada in action?"

He was about to answer when what she said registered, "Wait, I though' ya were numbered zero t' nine. Wouldn't th' second strongest be number one?"

"Well, normally, yes. But you see, we're actually short an Espada at the moment."

"Why?"

"Remember when I told you about the last time the Bounts were invited? Well, Primera was one of those involved in the out-of-ring fighting. Got too carried away, and Cero didn't take kindly to it."

Shiro bowed his head and tried to listen to the story under that statement. The first Espada had either done something, or _not _done something, that had angered their leader. It wasn't too hard to read between the lines from there onward with what Ichigo had said about what the Arrancar dealt in: death. So apparently, there was no more number one Espada. Shiro looked back up at Haineko, "Then, wouldn' everyone get an upgrade?"

"None of the others are strong enough to be Espada. And the Espada have to be strong to protect Las Noches, we won't just accept second best. If someone else shows promise enough before the winter solstice and ranks in the Espada, the new numbers will be assigned then. If not, we may decide to train up one of the numuros to Espada, but we're all hoping it doesn't go that way."

"Yachiru!"

They all turned to see a small girl with -Shiro raised a brow- light green hair. The young girl was taller than the pink-haired girl -not a grand feat, that- by about a head. She had an intricate helmet that covered most of her head and her left eye. She wore an outfit that would probably excite every pedophile on the premises and Shiro felt slightly nervous for her. Yachiru wiggled until Ikkaku put her down, "Lilynette!"

The two hugged and started chattering. A tired looking man with brown hair and a goatee came over at a sedate pace, "Sorry, she got away from me."

The taller of the two girls glared up at him, "Lazy ass!" before turning back to her friend.

Haineko threw her a warning look, "Watch it, Gingerbuck." before focusing her attention on the man, "Hey, Coyote."

The male yawned, "Hi, Growl."

She looked at Shiro, "This is Coyote Starrk, Diez Espada, the unofficial one. He goes by Los Lobos. The annoying little ankle-biter down there is his daughter, Lilynette, who goes by Gingerbuck. She's got a foul mouth on her and an abusive personality when it comes to her father because he spoils her rotten for looking like her late mother."

Shiro looked over at the man, who was leaning against a girder with his eyes closed, apparently asleep. He wasn't the only one that noticed it, the demonic child kicked him in the shin, "Wake up you lazy narc!"

Haineko shoved the green-haired girl, causing her to tumble into Yachiru and go to the floor, "Why don't you go get some sleep in one of the rooms? I'll find someone to watch the terror and text you."

The grateful look in those gray eyes was pitiful as Starrk nodded, "I'd very much appreciate that." he said and walked off.

Haineko glared at the children sprawled on the floor, "Behave yourselves or so help me, I'll sic Zangetsu on your asses." the two nodded fearfully and the cat-girl turned back to him, "Starrk isn't actually a narcoleptic, just an opportunist. Gingerbuck is hyper and an insomniac to boot, so she keeps him up most nights. Back when his wife was alive and he had the extra energy, Coyote was actually the Primera Espada. Now he's downgraded to Diez, but refuses to fall further because this is his main source of income."

Shiro tilted his head, "Ya actu'lly make money on these fights?"

"Of course. That's why the atmosphere gets so serious once all the groups arrive. We're fighting for grounds, here; more territory means more money, or sometimes just more respect, which means more jobs which mean more money. This is our means for survival."

"I nev' realized it was so ser'ous. Sorry."

"Not your fault, and we're doing fine. Oh, and look; here come some people I'm sure you know quite well."

Shiro turned at her urging and saw a large group of people heading their way, Nel, Nnoitora, and Tesla among them. Nel saw him first and launched herself at him in a hug, "Engetsu!"

She was nearly breaking his spine in her crushing hug, and as if that weren't enough, suffocating in him in her cleavage as well, "Can't...breathe."

She jumped back, "Oh, sorry. Hi!"

He righted himself, "Hi... um."

"Oh! It's Gamuza."

"'Muza!" a small, child-like voice called from behind her. As Nel stepped back, Shiro noticed the large ram's skull helmet she wore, undoubtedly her Arrancar Ivory. Nel was wearing a conservative white outfit like Ggio had been. When she turned back around, there was a child in her arms, a very little girl that couldn't have been more than four, and that was pushing it. The child had the exact same birthmark across her nose that Nel did, as well as the same color hair and huge gray eyes. If he didn't know better, he'd say the girl was her daughter.

Shiro stepped forward and bent towards the child, "So this is your infamous little sister?"

"This is her. Verde." Nel whispered, "Praise, this is Engetsu. He's Zangetsu's friend."

The child held her small fist to her mouth and looked back and forth between them, "Engets'! Zan's frein'!"

"That's right."

Shiro took note of the chibi skull helmet on the child's head, "Is she really..." he trailed off with a nod toward the bone.

"Yep, an honorary Arrancar." she said, adoring eyes never leaving her little sister.

"But, she's so young. It's ridiculous."

"My mother and I watch out for her, and we have friends that do the same, but she's always sent home before the Hollows arrive. We don't take stupid chances, Shiro."

Haineko stepped forward, "How about you send her off to play with Gingerbuck and Yachiru?"

"Praise!" two voices intoned at the same time.

Nel smiled, "Looks like I don't have much of a choice."

Verde wiggled in her arms, "Yachi! Ginger! Muza, wanna play!"

Nel set the girl down, "Okay, go play. Just remember to behave and stay close."

Noba stood from his post, "I'll watch them. It's getting a little crowded for me."

"Thank you."

The ninja nodded and walked off with the three girls in tow, stopping within sight, but out of hearing range. Shiro looked back to her, "So, 'troduce me 'round."

Nnoitora came up and Shiro held back a flinch at the scarred visage his left eye presented without his eyepatch. But he seemed proud of the wound, ivory in a mouth-like circle around the faded injury. He was wearing what Shiro was starting to believe was the standard Espada outfit of conservative white, only Nnoitora had a large spoon-like hood on the back of his that Shiro couldn't see him getting away without scorn for sporting. The slender male held out his hand, "Nnoitora Gilga, or Santa Teresa." he stuck out his tongue to show the gothic '5' on the appendage, "Quinto Espada."

Shiro clasped hands with him, "Engetsu."

Tesla waved at him, "Tesla Lindocruz, Arrancar Eleven, Verrugo."

Szayel adjusted his glasses, "Szayelapporo Grantz, Octavo Espada, Fornicaras."

A blonde with deeply tanned skin and odd eyeshadow-like tattoos around his eyes waved, "Findorr Calius, Arrancar Fourteen, Pinza Aguda."

Another tanned male, though shirtless and covered with red tats, gave him a thumbs' up, "Abirama Redder, Arrancar Thirteen, Aguila."

Having introduced themselves, Abirama and Findorr went off to watch some of the matches. Haineko was leaning against the girder Noba had vacated, looking deep in thought as she watched her fingers, "Let's see. Segunda Akai. Tercera Tia and Nel. Quatro. Quinto Santa Teresa. Sexta. Septima, me, Growl. Octavo Fornicaras. Noveno. Diez Los Lobos. Yep; you still need to meet Espada Six, Four, alternate Three, and Nine."

"Wha' 'bout th' Cero Espada?"

"Er, well, he's asked that you not meet him this time. Maybe if you stick around you'll get the chance to be introduced."

Shiro felt oddly disappointed at that, but refused to show it. He shrugged, "Eh, can't really blame 'im. 'F I choose n't t' stick 'round, it'd jus' be a waste of 'is time t' meet me."

Haineko brightened up, "Exactly! I'm glad you understand and don't blame him." she looked at her phone, "Hmm, Zangetsu should be here pretty soon."

"Yachiru! Praise! Ginger!" they turned to look at yet another young girl, this one with long blonde hair and bright green eyes. She had on an intricate kimono under her opened kosode, no hakama present, and Shiro wondered if she really was a Soul Reaper like the black kosode suggested.

The three adolescents raced over to meet her, "Rurichio!"

She looked from one to the other, "Oh, it is so good to see you all again. I have already asked, and Kenryu and Enryu said it was alright for us to play together. You may come with me if you want."

All four girls looked over at Haineko, lined up in reverse order of height: Verde, Yachiru, Rurichio, and Lilynette taking the lead thanks only to the twisted horn on her helmet. Haineko sighed at the four puppy-dog looks she was getting, "Argh! Fine! Go play, but _stay _with Kenryu and Enryu. No more wandering off."

All four nodded vigorously and ran off to two waiting men. Haineko sighed and started texting on her phone, undoubtedly telling their respective parents where to find their daughters. Shiro watched the ankle-biters go, "So who was that squirt?"

"That was Rurichio. Her parents died when she was a baby and two friends of the family took over guardianship of her: Kenryu and Enryu. She adores them, but they treat her like a little princess and she can be a bit spoiled at times. Also, if you didn't notice, her speech is stiflingly formal and she never uses contractions, but at least she's always polite and well-mannered."

"Ah. By th' way, how'd ya know tha' I knew th' gang?"

She flashed him some fang as she put her phone away and gave him her full attention, "Two different starting points that led to the same conclusion, really. One, Rukia knew you, and you had to meet somewhere, and she never goes to Zangetsu's house so it would have to have been a place on neutral ground: the school. No way would she have found you and not tried to get you adopted by the group there. Two, there are only two highschools in all of Las Noches, and I for damn sure would have remembered seeing you in mine, or even a rumor because, let's face it, you're rather hard to miss."

"'M goin' t' _no' _take tha' as th' backhanded compliment it cou'd be 'terpreted as."

Haineko was about to speak when her cell went off. She fished it out and looked held it to her ear, "What is it?"

There was a moment of silence as the person on the other end spoke. No one in the group around them, from Rukia to Nnoitora, to Nel, to Shiro himself, had the decency to even pretend they weren't eavesdropping on the call.

Haineko tensed and looked at her phone out of the corner of her eye, "What?! Dammit! We'll be right there!" She snapped the phone closed, "Fuck!"

"Wha's wrong?"

"The Hollows came early and there's an out-ring brawl happening over by the sleeping rooms. The Espada have been called in as security, the others are already there and kicking ass! Some fucking moron drew a sword!"

Noba and the others were off in a second, Shiro keeping up with them as they raced across the warehouse. It took five minutes to get across the enormous amount of open space to where the brawl was happening.

It wasn't hard to spot as they came upon it, there were Soul Reapers distinguishable by their shihakusho and he assumed the Hollows were the ones in all ebony black with the white masks. There were a few Vizards that stood out with their unique masks and rings with their colored clothes. What was surprising was that not a single Arrancar was present in the fight. A flash of blue, however, pointed out that Grimmjow was in the battle, and Shiro got a glimpse of the gothic '6' on his back as he swung two others around and threw them opposite directions.

There wasn't even an instant of hesitation as the rest of the Espada threw themselves into the fray. Shiro stayed on the outskirts of the battle, not sure exactly who was getting beat or who was supposed to. He did, however, get to flip and kick and lay a general ass-whooping on several people that attempted to drag him into the fight. He didn't care if they were Soul Reaper or Hollow; if they touched him, they regretted it.

Someone grabbed his left shoulder and he took sadistic pleasure in spinning around and cracking his right elbow into their face. He was unprepared, though, when somebody literally came flying at him, obviously not of their own free will. Said person's arm was grabbed right before they reached the startled albino and swung back around before being released to fall to the ground several feet away. Shiro glanced up at the silver hair visible above a white hockey-like mask, and the '69' tattoo visible because of the open coat, "Kensei?" The mask looked his way and nodded. Shiro looked from the Vizard to the brawl and back, "Back-to-back?"

Another nod and they moved farther into the mass of bodies and turned so they were back-to-back with each other. They lasted like that for a good six minutes before they got separated. Shiro noticed a ring of non-combatants a little ways away from where he stood and went to go investigate. To say he was shocked when a tuft of orange became visible over the heads of the crowd would be an understatement.

Shiro shoved his way roughly through the people and came to a stop at the scene before him. Ichigo was on the right, a black sword in his hands and wearing an outfit much like Shiro's only in black and crimson like the crescent pendant the pale teen wore. He was facing a Hollow with a bestial mask with a freaking retarded looking bangle hanging from the top to dangle in front of its face, also wielding a sword.

Both blades were locked together and the combatants glared at one another. Ichigo pushed the other blade off with his own and sunk the sword into the shoulder of the Hollow, making it drop its blade and howl in pain. The look in the whisky-colored eye Shiro could see froze the blood in his veins. The pure _unfeeling _that shone from the mahogany depths was fucking scary as the blood dripped down the sword to the hilt and fell to the floor. Then the berry-haired teen did something that Shiro hadn't thought the soft-hearted boy could be capable of: he pushed the blade in deeper and twisted it, cruelly, making the Hollow scream behind its mask.

Ichigo withdrew his sword then and his opponent fell to their knees in agony. Looking down dispassionately with a gaze like frozen chocolate, the sun-haired male flicked his sword to rid it of the blood and sheathed it. He turned away from Shiro's direction, "Someone get Captains Unohana and Zaraki over here, now! Isane, how is he?"

A voice from someone Shiro couldn't see answered, "I don't know. He might make it, but he might not."

"Fine. Keep an eye on him, I'm going to put a stop to this senseless fight."

"Good luck."

"I make my own luck." he said and disappeared into the crowd.

Rukia's cry brought Shiro out of his stupor, "Kaien! Oh, Kaien, please don't die!"

Snapping out of his daze, the pale teen moved forward and saw Rukia crouched over a man with spiky black hair along with a woman with short silver hair but for a few indian-like braids. Both woman were pressing down on different parts of the unconscious male, trying to stem the blood flow of several wounds.

They turned to look when a woman with long raven hair braided down her front stepped through the crowd and knelt next to the man, Kaien, calmly. She looked at the panicking women with a serene face, "Calm yourselves, young ones. He will survive, I'll make sure of it."

Comforted that the strange Soul Reaper would live, Shiro turned and pushed his way through the crowd to look for Ichigo. There seemed to be alot of people passed out, or, better said, knocked out. Shiro glanced about for any of the giants that he knew, figuring they'd be the easiest to spot. Unconsciously, the pale teen's hand had strayed up to grasp the pendant that hung at his throat. He breathed out a slight sigh when he spotted Kensei overseeing the laying out of those that had been knocked out.

He approached the silver-haired man, "Ne, Kensei, ya 'aven't seen Zangetsu, 'ave ya?"

Mask resting on his head, he smiled down at Shiro and nodded, "Over there." he pointed off to the left.

"Thanks." he mumbled and went looking for his friend.

It was only a few minutes later that he spotted the unruly mop of orange hair, "Oi! Zangetsu!"

Ichigo looked over his left shoulder just enough to spot the albino. A smile graced his lips and his eyes were once again the color of warm honey. Shiro smirked back and interlaced his fingers behind his head as he walked. He then noticed all the others were with Ichigo, in various states of sprawl on several crates and boxes, Ichigo and Ulquiorra the only ones standing.

Haineko was on a particularly tall lightly-colored crate that put her ankles on par with Ichigo's forehead, her elbows on her knees and her chin resting in her hands. She gave a small wave, "Oi, yourself. Where the hell did you get to?"

"Ha! Ya think yer th' only ones can kick ass? I was havin' fun off on mah own. Kensei went an' teamed up wit' meh for abit afore we got parted. Been lookin' fer you lot since."

"Hey, Shiro. How's your experience been?"

Finally coming even with his colored counterpart, Shiro looked over at Ichigo and froze. The entire upper right part of Ichigo's face was covered in a mask. It looked somewhat like the Vizard ring on his hand, which he noticed wasn't present at the moment, but that wasn't what stopped the albino in his tracks. The eye was covered in some sort of visor or sunglasses-like substance that blocked his view of the carmel eye behind it. Not only that, but it was an evil yellow color, and along with the shape of the mask, it looked like the death-glare of a monster.

"Shiro, are you okay?"

Shiro shook his head and looked over to see concern flash in the single visible brown eye, a disconcerting feeling when paired with the mask glaring death at him. He leaned back against the closest crate with his hands behind his head, "'M fine, jus' comin' down off the fightin' high."

Comprehension lit the warm chocolate orb and Ichigo nodded in understanding, "So, how has your tour been?"

"Was fun watchin' Akai an' Ikkaku duke it out. An' I met lots o' people, an' most o' th' Espada."

Haineko sat up straight, "While you're here, now's the time to finish off our introductions, ne?"

The easily recognized tiger-teen jumped down from his crate and stood before Shiro, "I'll go first, then." he pulled down the collar of his outfit to show off the '9' on the right side of his throat, "Ggio Vega, Noveno Espada, Tigre Estoque."

A woman with tan skin hopped off of another crate and presented herself. Her outfit, while white, was far from _conservative _as the others' had been: it consisted of a top that was so high-collared that it covered her face to her nose, but stopped just below her ample bosom and had full sleeves. A pair of well-fitted hakama like his own rode dangerously low on her hips. Shiro couldn't help the nervous feeling when she reached up and unzipped her top from the bottom up, his face flushing a deep pink as the zipper revealed more and more tan flesh. The top parted against the strain of her bosom and she showed the ivory bustier that was likely the only thing that could contain or support the large globes it cradled. A black '3' was visible on her right breast.

Shiro glanced away, his face so red it was painful. He scratched his cheek with a single finger as he fought his blush, "Um, I imagine tha' ya get challenged regularly." he said, recalling what Haineko said about Espada showing respect to their opponents.

"True, which is why I rarely accept. Tia Hallibel, Tercera Espada, Tiburon."

"I thought Growl said your name was Tier."

"Yes, but few people can pronounce it, and I'm fine with Tia."

"Okay." he said, still not looking at her, "Um, ya can, uh, c-cover up now."

She stepped closer to him, and he would have retreated had he not already been flush with the crate behind him. She reached out a hand under his chin and forced his head up with two fingers to stare in her aqua-colored eyes, "Do I unnerve you, Shiro-kun?"

The albino only just became aware of the large, shark-like jaw-shaped mask that covered her face from her nose to her neck; rather like Grimmjow's taken to the next level. He hadn't noticed until she'd forced his gaze up to meet hers.

Shiro glanced away, "N-no, bu' I was taught t' respect females." She stepped back and he breathed a sigh of relief when she rezipped her top. _An' I still remember the softball on the back o' meh head t' teach it ta me._

His blush disappeared as soon as she'd stepped back. Grimmjow jumped from his perch, "Grimmjow Jeagerjaques Kurosaki, Sexta Espada, Pantera." he turned around, showing off his tattoo.

Somewhat unsurprised, Shiro watched as Ulquiorra pushed off of the crate he was leaning against and unzipped his outfit half-way, pulling it aside to reveal the '4' on the left side of his chest, "Ulquiorra Schiffer Kurosaki, Quatro Espada, Murcielago."

Shiro wasn't stupid. He'd seen Ichigo in that battle. He knew that the Espada had been called into the battle. He knew that both of Ichigo's brothers were of that number. And there were the vague hints, like what Ggio'd said when Grimmjow had pulled him away from the dressing rooms earlier, and the way Haineko had reacted to the text she'd gotten from the orange-haired teen.

He was fully capable of putting two and two together and coming up with four. Or at least narrowing the possibilities down. Option one: Haineko had lied/been wrong about there being no Primera Espada, and Ichigo was it. Option two: Ichigo was the Cero Espada and didn't want him to know, likely for the same reason he'd been hesitant to tell him what the Arrancar dealt in in the first place.

Shiro narrowed his eyes on the male dressed in black. Fixing his expression, he straightened up and walked toward Ichigo. Likely noticing the predatory glint in his eyes, the berry-haired teen adopted a wary expression and stepped back until he was flush with a crate, Shiro following the whole way.

Shiro trapped his quarry with his hands on either side of Ichigo's head, noting the look in the single visible eye was something like panic or fear, and leaned forward until his lips were next to his colored copy's ear, "Who knew the nickname I chose for you would be so appropriate, ne? Ichigo. King. Cero." he felt the teen in his arms tense painfully, surely at risk of tearing something. Shiro rested his lips against warm tan skin, "Shh, Ichi-King. Calm down. I won't hurt you, not ever. Not that I could, Mr.-I-control-an-entire-assassination-guild. I'd love a spar sometime, see where I stand from my years of street-fighting." Shiro felt the boy under his lips relax after several more moments of whispered reassurances. He pulled back and chanced a look at Ichigo's eye, seeing so much swirling in the carmel depths. Confusion, relief; trust, and just possibly, longing.

Ichigo leaned forward until his head rested against Shiro's neck, "You mean all that, Shiro?" he whispered into the column of pale flesh.

"I wouldn't lie to you, not ever. It's not in my nature." he whispered, "I'm a bastard and a sadist and confrontational and stubborn as all hell, but I'm honest and direct and loyal to a fault."

"That's convenient: I'm honorable and masochistic and will look for almost any way around a confrontation, but I'm sneaky, devious, and nebulous and protective to a fault."

"What a pair we make, ne?"

"Hai. Know how to seal a promise, Shiro?"

"Hmm, maybe you should show me."

Ichigo pulled back for a moment and stared into Shiro's eyes before leaning forward and sealing their lips. Shiro closed his eyes and leaned into the kiss, running his tongue along Ichigo's bottom lip; asking for entrance that was granted. He took great pleasure in mapping out every crease and dip of his colored copy's mouth, playing with the slick pink appendage and encouraging it to come dance with his own blue tongue.

They broke apart when the need for air became critical and Shiro leaned against Ichigo's neck again, feeling the warm breath on his throat as the berry-haired teen did the same, "I always keep my promises, Ichigo."

"Good, because I intend to hold you to them. I don't trust easily, Shiro, and I never beg, but I'm doing so now: please don't betray me."

"Never."

Someone clearing their throat broke the moment between the two, but they refused to surrender the intimacy to embarrassment. They turned to face the others calmly, completely ignoring the fact that they'd had an audience to their small performance. Ichigo cocked his head to the side, as though he'd been interrupted doing nothing more incriminating than reading the newspaper, "Yes?"

Shiro grinned maniacally at his Ichi while Szayel cleared his throat again, "Well, shouldn't we check in with the others? See how everything's going and if there's been more trouble?"

The albino snapped his fingers, "Oh! Tha' reminds meh, I saw tha' Kaien guy wi' th' Squad Four lady, Unohama or somethin'. She said he'd live, she'd make sure o' it."

Shiro was the only one close enough to see the slight darkening of Ichigo's face and the colored teen leaned close to his shoulder to whisper to him, "I can't believe it; I completely forgot about him."

The golden-eyed male smirked at him, "I'll gladly take full credit fer that one, Ichi." he breathed in his ear.

The pale teen felt satisfaction at Ichigo's hitch in breathing before he was scowled at, "Prick."

Shiro grinned widely, "Yeah, but you already knew that."

Ichigo coughed, "Let's go." he said, grabbing Shiro's hand in his own and dragging him along, not waiting for the others.

Shiro raised a brow as an annoying, though familiar, ringtone started playing from Ichigo's pocket. He wondered idly who had pissed Ichigo off enough to get stuck with the ringtone 'Material girl'.

He was answered as Ichigo held the cell to his ear, "Hi, Yumichika. Yeah, that was it. I don't think you'll mind once you see. Yeah. Yes, you vain peacock, of course." Ichigo's stride faltered for a moment, "I-I don't know about that. Well, yes, but-. No, that's not it at all. Certainly not! NO! We aren't playing to your sick little fantasies! Good _bye_, Yumichika."

"Wha' was that about?"

"Yumichika caught sight of you when you and the others were headed for the fight. He called to ask if that was indeed his work that had passed by him in a blur of white. Then started in that it might not be right for someone else. Then he wanted to know if you liked it." here he looked down to hide his face in his bangs, "He wanted to know if we were together. If I liked you that. Or if maybe-" he shook his head, "Then he wanted to know if we could pose for him."

"Pose?"

"Naked. For a painting."

"I don't want anyone seeing me naked." he paused for a moment and stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully as he was pulled along, "Actually, for that matter, I don't want anyone seeing you naked either; with us being each other's exceptions, of course." he joked and looked back at Ichigo.

"Of course." he muttered with an eye-roll, nose an adorable pink.

They came upon the scene of the fight and saw Kensei helping move people, accompanied by a shorter man with raven spikes and several facial tattoos. He had a blueish gray strip across the upper part of his left cheek from just in front of his ear, across the bridge of his nose, and ending half-way under his other eye. He also had '69' tattooed on the same cheek, just under the start of the stripe, and three ragged looking scars down his other cheek that went from his temple to his jawline, two of which went directly over his right eye. Shiro couldn't help but think he'd been lucky not to lose the eye. The young man saw them coming and waved, "Hey, Zangetsu."

"Hi, Shuuhei. Shiro, this is Shuuhei Hisagi, Kensei's former apprentice and Kaien's cousin. Shuuhei, this is Hichigo Shirosaki, Shiro, called Engetsu. Shuuhei's a very close friend of mine. He's closer to me than Rukia and Renji, even."

"Yeah, well, that happens when you save someone's life; they tend to get close to you."

"It really wasn't that great. Anyway, how's Kaien?"

"Stable at the moment. I'm really glad that cousin Kukaku and Ganju aren't here."

"Aren't we always?"

"Well, that's true, I guess. Right now, Sensei and I are helping Squad Four with gathering all the idiots, excuse me, _infirmed_."

"Need any help?"

"Nah, you guys helped enough. Saw you fightin' out there, Engetsu. You've got some skills."

Shiro shrugged, "Years of experience street fightin'."

Kensei layed out another person and nodded, "He fought like you, Zangetsu. He knows how to see his opponents."

Excitement shone in Ichigo's visible eye, "Really?" he looked over at Shiro, "I'm going to hold you to that one part of your promise sooner rather than later if that's the case."

Shuuhei seemed to choke at that, "Promise? Like, a Sealed Promise?"

Shiro smirked as Ichigo looked away, "I don' think it gets much more sealed than that."

Ichigo started coughing and his face flamed, his hand still around Shiro's curling so that his fingernails dug in painfully. Shuuhei smiled blindingly, "Well, well, well. I'm happy for you. It's about time."

Ichigo rubbed the back of his head with his free hand, "Um, thank you?"

Shiro decided to take the, obviously uncomfortable, attention off of Ichigo, "So, Shuuhei, what're ya, 'xactly?"

"Well, at first I was a Vizard, under Sensei. Then I became a Soul Reaper under captain Tousen. Then he defected and I had to rethink what it was I actually wanted to fight for. So, now, I'm an Arrancar. And despite my tat here, I'm actually Arrancar Twelve, called Kazeshini. Ignore my hakama and shitogi, like Zan, I find it rather nostalgic to wear proof of all the places I've been loyalty-wise."

"So wha's yer bone?"

He pulled up the leg of his hakama, "Shin guards."

"Cool. Any other good friends I should meet?"

Shuuhei let go of his clothes and adopted a thoughtful expression, "The only one as close to him as his brothers and I would be Toshiro and Growl. Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya. A close second would be Shunko Shihoin. But both of them are Soul Reapers, so it's kind of hard to get together with all of us. Well, speak of the devil."

They turned around to see several people headed their way. A woman with dark skin and long purple hair back in a pony-tail, dressed in orange and black, stopped in front of them, "What happened here?"

"A brawl between the Hollows and Soul Reapers." Shuuhei answered.

"Well, glad nothing too bad came out of it." she looked at Shiro and he was struck by her eyes being as golden as his own, though obviously without the black sclera. She stepped forward, popping his personal space bubble, "And you are?"

_Uncomfortable with yer proximity. _was his immediate thought. He leaned back away from her, unnerved, "Engetsu."

She leaned back, much to Shiro's relief, "My name is Yoruichi, Yoruichi Shihoin-Urahara. This is my husband, Kisuke."

A man with a green and white striped hat that shadowed his eyes waved a fan Shiro's way, "Hi, there!"

Shuuhei stepped forward, "I think I should give proper introductions. This is former Captain of Squad Two, Yoruichi. And former Captain of Squad Twelve, Kisuke Urahara. Over there is the current Captain of Squad Two, Soi Fon." he reached out and pulled another girl forward, "And this is who I was talking about earlier, Lieutenant of Squad Two, Shunko Shihoin, Yoruichi's niece. Soi Fon and Yoruichi were friends for most of their childhood, and when Yoruichi decided to retire, Soi Fon took over from her Lieutenant duties."

Shiro only heard about half of what Shuuhei had said, too focused on the girl in front of him. She noticed his staring and rubbed the back of her head, "Heh-heh, I know. Freaky, right?"

Shiro could only nod. The girl was a carbon copy of the woman standing to her left, not that he had any right to talk. Her skin and hair was the exact same color, though she was several inches shorter and her hair only came down to just past her cheeks. She wore standard shihakusho hakama, but her top was different, more like a backless dress in Soul Reaper colors than anything else. He noticed that the silent broody girl, Soi Fon, wore the same thing under her Captain's haori. He noted the brown leather badge with the mark for Squad Two wrapped on Shunko's arm.

He looked down when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye and saw a young girl quickly pull back behind Yoruichi. Said woman looked down as though just noticing the child, "Come on out. I almost forgot to introduce you." she pulled the black-haired girl out and held her in front of her by the girl's shoulders, "This is my daughter, Ururu. And- get over here-" a tan boy with red hair came out from behind Kisuke, looking sulky, "that's her older brother, Jinta."

Shiro crossed his arms and leaned against Ichigo, pleased beyond belief that the teen leaned into him as well, "Name's Shiro, an' I'm Ichigo's boyfriend." he noticed the small jerk from the other teen and the increase in the leaning against him.

Yoruichi clapped her hands together, "Really? I'm so happy for you two! You know, I'm the one that taught him how to drink, so whatever you do, don't try to get him drunk. I can personally guarantee that you'll run out of booze before you get even half-way there. He was my greatest student in that area."

Before Shiro knew what was happening, he was being dragged away, "Well, we need to get going. See you later, Yoruichi. Oh, Rurichio, Gingerbuck, Yachiru, and Praise are all with Kenryu and Enryu. Bye!"

They rounded a container and Ichigo leaned against the metal with a sigh. He tensed when someone called his alias-name, "Dammit." he muttered.

"So, you're the one that's wearing my designs."

The feminine man in front of them with the feathers decorating his right eye could only be one person, "Yumichika, I assume."

"Correct, that would be me. My, my, Zangetsu, you certainly chose well. It really does suit him. I'll have to get to work on other pieces."

"Well, you already have all of my measurements. We're the same, so it shouldn't be hard."

Yumichika clapped, "This is perfect! Colors that wouldn't work on you will look simply beautiful on him. And those eyes..." he started muttering about designs and fabrics that Shiro had never heard of and colors he hadn't known existed. _What the hell is mauve anyway? And ecru? What the fuck? Is he speaking in code?_

Ichigo apparently thought it was a good chance to escape and dragged a severely confused and glaring Shiro away with him. Shiro pulled Ichigo to a stop after a few minutes, "Will we be leaving soon? I'm beginning to get a little overwhelmed." _Actually, I think I passed 'a little' during the quad fight._

"You aren't the only one. I think it's about time to head out. Let me tell the others."

He pulled out his phone only to be stopped by a tug on his sleeve, he looked up, apparently noticing that the albino was looking over at crate farther off, "Um, who's that sucking face with Ulquiorra?"

"That would be his girlfriend, Senna. She's Shunko's cousin. She's one of ours, though not much of a willing fighter and higher in the ranks. She's Mirokumaru, Arrancar Twenty-nine, and the clip in her hair is pure ivory that Ulquiorra got for her. She stays over at our house on the weekends."

Shiro blinked at that, "Just how many people are in your house?"

"As of tonight? Me, you, Grimm, Ggio, Ulqui, Senna, Yuzu, Karin, Shuuhei, Haineko, and Goat-face."

"That's alot of people."

"Yep. Ulqui and Senna crash on the couch, Grimm and Ggio in Grimm's room. Karin and Yuzu share a room. And Shuuhei and Haineko will both crash on one of the recliners. Goat-face has his own room."

"How often do you do this massive sleep-over thing?"

"About once a month, usually after a tourney when everyone's able to come."

"So, where am I sleeping?"

"Well, when Rukia's apartment flooded, she had to stay with us, and she slept in the closet in my room. Or I could pull some pallets from the clinic and we could both camp out on the floor in my room."

Unsure of how comfortable Ichigo would be with him that close, despite how well their newly blossoming relationship was coming, he opted for the safer choice, "Nah, closet's fine. At least I won't have to worry 'bout th' damnable sun waking me up."

"You sure?"

"Yep, now less talkin' an' more textin'."

Ichigo nodded and turned to his phone. Shiro watched as his fingers danced over the keys. He knew he had to be careful with the orange-haired teen. There were deep wounds in his past, and Shiro would have to be very careful to brush over them gently without digging in too deeply and causing them to bleed. Facts evidenced by Ichigo cutting into his palms with his nails enough to draw blood just at a question or two about his past. He had no idea who it was that hurt Ichigo, or just how far that hurt went, but he had the bastard's number and if he was smart he would pray that he never run into Shiro in a dark alley. Not that he would be any safer in a brightly lit room full of witnesses, either... but dark alleyways were so much more satisfying to stalk down.

All Shiro needed was a name, but he knew it would come at a steep price. That was fine, Shiro could wait. Confrontational he may be, but he was also as patient as he needed to be. Besides, the longer it took, the more ways he could come up with to torture him when he found out.

"Shiro? Are you ready to go?"

He looked over at his berry-haired boyfriend and smiled, "Ready and waiting."

"Then let's go home."

"Lead the way, Ichi-King."

He followed Ichigo back to the changing rooms and slipped back into his civilian grab, keeping the pendant on. He came out with the gym bag resting on his shoulder and saw Nel and Tesla waiting for him, "Hi, Shiro."

"Heya, what're you two doin' 'ere?"

"Waiting for you. Can't be too careful around here. When Ichigo leaves, we pretty much all leave."

"All th' gang, 'r all th' Arrancar?"

Nel gave Tesla a look Shiro couldn't decipher and started to fidget, "Um."

"Yea, tha's what I thought. 'S fine, Nel. Chill. Ichi an' I are good an' I'll keep mah mouth shut."

The aqua-haired girl brightened at that, "Good! We were actually waiting for my mom to get un-Arrancar-ed and Ichigo asked us to watch out for you. Tensions are still running high after the brawl and it's not good for anyone to be alone right now. Nnoi's waiting outside with my sister and some of our allied Soul Reapers."

"So, will I get t' meet yer mom? From wha' I caught, Growl's comin' wit' us."

"Yep! You didn't really think you'd get rid of me that easily, didja?" Haineko said as she slung an arm around his shoulders.

Shiro's eyes widened as he turned and caught sight of her. She was wearing a pastel pink top that left her midriff bare and had...paws. Right there, on her breasts, were two black cat-paw decals. The pale teen turned away quickly as he felt a blush rising on his face, "Hi, Growl."

She looked at him closely, "Something wrong?"

A lyrical laugh shattered the quiet, "Back off of him, Growl. He's a gentleman and you're making him nervous." Tia said as she came up to them.

Haineko stepped back and looked down at her chest, "Oh, my bad." she pulled something off her waist, which Shiro noted was a leather riding jacket that had been tied there by the arms, and put it on, pulling it closed but not zipping it up. She looked back at him, "There. That a little better?"

Shiro cleared his throat and nodded, "Much."

"And I, Shiro-kun? Better than before?"

The albino glanced up and saw the tan woman in tight fitting black leather pants that started just below her bellybutton and a matching black top that bared her arms entirely but, amazingly, hid her cleavage while showing off her neck, and giving him his first full look at her face and the two blue lightning tattoos on her cheeks. He nodded, "It suits you well."

"What's with the road-block out here? Surely you aren't all waiting to get changed?"

Nel turned to the new arrival and beamed, "Of course not. We're waiting for our friends and chatting." she looked over at the pale teen, "Shiro, this is my mother."

A woman with pale skin and light blue hair stepped forward, an interesting white and blue hairclip in her hair. She held out a hand to him, "Hello, there. My name is Sodenoshirayuki Odelschwanck, Arrancar Twenty-one, Dance."

He took her hand, "Hichigo Shirosaki, ma'am. Engetsu."

"It was nice to meet you, Shirosaki-san." she said and withdrew her hand, turning to her daughter, "Let's go. Verde needs to get to bed and I'm sure your boyfriend is waiting for you two. Tia, Haineko, are you two coming?"

Tia nodded and followed the woman while Haineko stepped beside Shiro, "Not this time, Dance-sama. I'm goin' with Ichi and the others. See you monday."

When they were gone, Shiro turned to her, "I see wha' ya meant earlier abou' her an' names. Sheesh."

"I told you so."

"Tha' was a mouthful an' a half."

"Not that Grimmjow's so much better with his full name. I'm pretty sure whoever proposed Dance-sama's name did so on purpose considering her already long names."

"Are we all ready?" Ggio's voice came from behind them.

"Hey, G. Not yet, or did you not notice the distinct lack of people around us?"

"I meant you two. It doesn't take me long to change."

"It doesn't take me long either."

"That's because you hardly wear anything."

Shiro glanced between the two and snickered. Haineko looked at him, "What?"

He shook his head, "I got nothin' t' say tha' wouldn't get meh smacked."

She rolled her eyes, "We're not hormonal, temperamental teenage girls, just say it."

Taking a step back for safety's sake, Shiro smirked at them, "Cat fight."

The two feline teens looked at each other before laughing, "He's got us there."

Grimmjow came out next, "What are you three all chuckling about?"

Haineko got herself under control, "Just that Ggio and I got into a little cat fight." she said and burst into giggles again.

Grimmjow grinned and shook his head, leaning back against the wall. The girl Shiro had seen earlier with Ulquiorra came out of a room, adjusting the ribbon used to tie up her pony-tail. She came over to them, "Hi. I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Senna. I left this morning before you got there."

He nodded at her, "Saw ya earlier wit' Ulquiorra. King tol' meh 'bout ya. Yer Mirokumaru."

"That's me. And you're Shiro, Ichigo-kun's new friend. Ulqui told me about you. Your name is Engetsu."

After several minutes, Shuuhei popped up, "Hi, guys. Heya, Shiro, I see you've already met everyone."

"Yea, we're jus' waitin' on King an' Ulquiorra."

"Not surprising; they, along with Grimmjow, always take the longest to get ready either way."

"I take offense at that." came a familiar voice off to Shiro's left.

Shiro glanced over, "Took ya long 'nough, King."

"Sorry, Shiro, couldn't be helped. Now that everybody's ready, let's get going."

x

_**That's all for now. Next chapter coming, well, at some point in the future.**_

_**Important question: Who should I pair Orihime with? This story is all about UNUSUAL pairings (Except for the ShiroIchi, obviously. That's why even Nnoitora's usual haunts are in a three-way.)**_

_**Given these facts, pairings that absolutely will NOT be accepted are as follows: Orihime-Uryu, Orihime-Tatsuki, Orihime-Ulquiorra (He's taken!) and under NO surcumstances will I do Orihime-Chizuru (unsolicited stalking should not be rewarded.) Drop me a line to let me know what you think. Until then, CuteCat out!**_


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